Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Buys 777 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 12.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 7,227 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 777 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $1,279,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 67.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 162 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in Ares Management during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in Ares Management during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Ares Management by 53.4% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the period. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 43.0% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 336 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In other news, Director Ashish Bhutani acquired 10,000 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $141.33 per share, with a total value of $1,413,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 22,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,237,163.65. This trade represents a 77.49 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 69,809 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.01, for a total transaction of $11,239,947.09. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 30,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,861,052.91. This represents a 69.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 218,268 shares of company stock worth $37,431,786 in the last quarter. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ARES has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Ares Management from $207.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $166.00 to $202.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $176.17.

Ares Management Trading Down 2.1 %

ARES opened at $143.96 on Wednesday. Ares Management Co. has a fifty-two week low of $125.23 and a fifty-two week high of $200.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.41 billion, a PE ratio of 70.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company’s 50-day moving average is $177.26 and its 200 day moving average is $170.17.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 11.35%. As a group, research analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.11%. This is an increase from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Ares Management’s payout ratio is currently 183.25%.

About Ares Management

Ares Management Corporation operates as an alternative asset manager in the United States, Europe, and Asia. The company's Tradable Credit Group segment manages various types of investment funds, such as commingled and separately managed accounts for institutional investors, and publicly traded vehicles and sub-advised funds for retail investors in the tradable and non-investment grade corporate credit markets.