GAMMA Investing LLC Acquires 79 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 53.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 227 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 79 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $40,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Ares Management by 6.5% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 65,417 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,195,000 after buying an additional 4,000 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Ares Management by 5.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 682,985 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $106,436,000 after buying an additional 36,476 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in Ares Management by 31.2% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 22,750 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,545,000 after buying an additional 5,404 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Ares Management by 9.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,244,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,284,773,000 after buying an additional 679,462 shares during the period. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA bought a new stake in Ares Management during the third quarter valued at $641,000. Institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on ARES. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Ares Management from $136.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays lifted their price target on Ares Management from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Ares Management from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $172.33.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, insider Ryan Berry sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.99, for a total transaction of $6,719,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 304,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,102,893.98. This represents a 11.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 115,838 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 1,259,162 shares in the company, valued at $223,916,778.46. This trade represents a 8.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 614,167 shares of company stock worth $106,716,247 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Stock Up 0.6 %

ARES opened at $176.01 on Tuesday. Ares Management Co. has a 12 month low of $112.83 and a 12 month high of $185.06. The company has a market cap of $55.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.18. 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 business’s 50-day moving average price is $175.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $159.09.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.01. Ares Management had a return on equity of 19.89% and a net margin of 12.51%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $833.58 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.83 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 171.43%.

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.