Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Shares Sold by Fulton Bank N.A.

Fulton Bank N.A. trimmed its holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,392 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 271 shares during the period. Fulton Bank N.A.’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $778,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 67.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 162 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the third quarter worth $36,000. Eastern Bank purchased a new position in shares of Ares Management in the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Management during the 2nd quarter worth $78,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 15,825 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.24, for a total transaction 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 represents a 6.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Ryan Berry sold 14,357 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.16, for a total transaction of $2,586,557.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 233,214 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,015,834.24. This represents a 5.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 614,167 shares of company stock worth $106,716,247 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 41.89% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARES has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Ares Management from $136.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ares Management from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $176.00 to $212.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Ares Management from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $172.33.

Ares Management Price Performance

Shares of ARES opened at $182.21 on Friday. Ares Management Co. has a 52 week low of $112.83 and a 52 week high of $185.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market cap of $57.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.97, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.18. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $175.25 and a 200-day moving average of $158.20.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.01. Ares Management had a net margin of 12.51% and a return on equity of 19.89%. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $833.58 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.83 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 171.43%.

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.