Vicus Capital Acquires New Shares in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Vicus Capital acquired a new stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,319 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ARES. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in Ares Management by 67.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 162 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Ares Management by 53.4% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in Ares Management during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in Ares Management during the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its stake in Ares Management by 1,572.7% during the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 368 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARES has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group raised their target price on Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $176.17.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 15,825 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.24, for a total value of $2,646,573.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 214,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,802,571.96. This trade represents a 6.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 115,838 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.83, for a total value of $20,599,471.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,259,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $223,916,778.46. This represents a 8.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 573,181 shares of company stock worth $101,459,161 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Price Performance

NYSE:ARES opened at $186.11 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $184.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $166.70. The stock has a market cap of $58.26 billion, a PE ratio of 91.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18. Ares Management Co. has a 52 week low of $125.23 and a 52 week high of $200.49.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 16.64%. As a group, analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 5.53 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $1.12 per share. This is a positive change from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.41%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.