Brookstone Capital Management Takes Position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Brookstone Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 1,190 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $211,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ARES. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 67.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 162 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Ares Management by 53.4% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Eastern Bank bought a new stake in Ares Management in the third quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 21.0% in the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 559 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ares Management Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of ARES stock opened at $191.69 on Monday. Ares Management Co. has a fifty-two week low of $112.83 and a fifty-two week high of $192.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $177.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $160.50. The company has a market cap of $60.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.34, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.18.

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

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 171.43%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price 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. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Ares Management from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ares Management has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $171.92.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In other news, insider Ryan Berry sold 1,671 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $292,425.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 253,214 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,312,450. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 115,838 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,259,162 shares in the company, valued at approximately $223,916,778.46. This represents a 8.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 574,167 shares of company stock valued at $99,996,647 in the last 90 days. 41.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.