Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 225 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 8.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,848 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 225 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $504,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Ares Management by 10.1% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,762 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $430,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the period. Creative Planning increased its position in Ares Management by 13.7% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 20,957 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,266,000 after buying an additional 2,532 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its position in Ares Management by 17.2% in the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,305 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $359,000 after buying an additional 339 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Management by 8.2% during the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 1,963 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $306,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Ares Management by 2,533.3% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 948 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $148,000 after purchasing an additional 912 shares in the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays cut their target price on Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com cut Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Management has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $176.17.

Ares Management Trading Up 0.9 %

ARES opened at $186.11 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $184.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $167.21. The company has a market capitalization of $58.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 91.68, a PEG 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. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 11.35%. Analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 5.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This is an increase from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. 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 currently 183.25%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 25,843 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.16, for a total transaction of $4,423,287.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 167,711 shares in the company, valued at $28,705,414.76. The trade was a 13.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Ryan Berry sold 5,443 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.14, for a total value of $980,502.02. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 247,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,633,467.94. This represents a 2.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 525,777 shares of company stock worth $93,531,158. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.