State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Sells 23,910 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lowered its stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 25.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 68,771 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 23,910 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $9,166,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ARES. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Ares Management by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,599,345 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,207,381,000 after purchasing an additional 206,996 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Ares Management by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,872,559 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $460,525,000 after purchasing an additional 71,819 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 49.4% in the 2nd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 2,822,565 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $376,191,000 after acquiring an additional 933,664 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 38.5% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,171,188 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $289,376,000 after acquiring an additional 603,676 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the 4th quarter valued at about $205,499,000. Institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Price Performance

Shares of Ares Management stock opened at $147.40 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $143.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $138.60. Ares Management Co. has a 52 week low of $96.00 and a 52 week high of $155.53. The company has a market capitalization of $46.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.10, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The asset manager reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.01. Ares Management had a return on equity of 20.46% and a net margin of 12.53%. The company had revenue of $788.68 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $860.09 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 4.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.52%. Ares Management’s payout ratio is 166.82%.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In other news, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 150,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.94, for a total value of $19,791,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Ares Management news, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 150,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.94, for a total transaction of $19,791,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Ryan Berry sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.12, for a total value of $1,421,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 446,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,485,288.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 779,315 shares of company stock worth $109,487,356. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on ARES. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Ares Management in a research report on Thursday. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $156.00 price objective on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Ares Management from $134.00 to $133.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Ares Management from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays lifted their target price on Ares Management from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on Ares Management in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $140.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.42.

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.