Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd Increases Stock Position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 1,592.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,433 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,112 shares during the quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $962,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ARES. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 31.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,849,737 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $444,103,000 after purchasing an additional 678,549 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its position in Ares Management by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 7,064 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,101,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in Ares Management in the 3rd quarter valued at about $460,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Ares Management during the third quarter worth approximately $1,798,000. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Ares Management during the third quarter valued at $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on ARES. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Ares Management from $215.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com downgraded Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Ares Management from $221.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $176.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Ashish Bhutani acquired 10,000 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $141.33 per share, for a total transaction of $1,413,300.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 22,905 shares in the company, valued at $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 is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 110,845 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.17, for a total value of $16,978,128.65. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,400,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $214,438,000. The trade was a 7.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 329,113 shares of company stock valued at $54,409,915 in the last quarter. 41.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ares Management Stock Down 10.0 %

Shares of NYSE ARES opened at $117.54 on Friday. Ares Management Co. has a 12 month low of $113.24 and a 12 month high of $200.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.07 billion, a PE ratio of 57.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $166.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $170.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

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

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This is a positive change from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.81%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 183.25%.

Ares Management Company Profile

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.