Brown Financial Advisors Has $498,000 Stock Holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Brown Financial Advisors cut its holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 8.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,812 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 276 shares during the quarter. Brown Financial Advisors’ holdings in Ares Management were worth $498,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of Ares Management during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Ares Management by 53.4% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its holdings in Ares Management by 1,572.7% during the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 368 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 48.0% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 435 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $207.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays reduced their price target on Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Management presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.17.

Ares Management Price Performance

ARES stock opened at $168.81 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $52.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 83.16, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $184.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $168.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. Ares Management Co. has a 52-week low of $125.23 and a 52-week high of $200.49.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share (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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This is a boost from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.65%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is 183.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider David B. Kaplan sold 30,680 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.16, for a total value of $5,404,588.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 30,465 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.16, for a total transaction of $5,366,714.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,375,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $242,220,000. The trade was a 2.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 304,823 shares of company stock worth $55,063,881. 41.89% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ares Management 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.