Dearborn Partners LLC Buys 859 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Dearborn Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 122,306 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 859 shares during the quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $21,652,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARES. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Ares Management by 15.1% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 7,924 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,326,000 after purchasing an additional 1,042 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank boosted its position in Ares Management by 1.3% during the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 12,205 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,902,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Ares Management by 31.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,849,737 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $444,103,000 after purchasing an additional 678,549 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co. bought a new position in Ares Management during the third quarter worth $268,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 65.7% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 41,509 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,469,000 after acquiring an additional 16,451 shares during the period. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In related news, insider Ryan Berry sold 14,357 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.16, for a total value of $2,586,557.12. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 233,214 shares in the company, valued at $42,015,834.24. This represents a 5.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider David B. Kaplan sold 69,526 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.99, for a total value of $11,192,990.74. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 30,474 shares in the company, valued at $4,906,009.26. The trade was a 69.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 232,625 shares of company stock worth $40,018,344. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $207.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ares Management has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $176.17.

Ares Management Stock Down 9.1 %

Shares of NYSE ARES opened at $140.92 on Tuesday. 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 company has a market cap of $44.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.42, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23. Ares Management Co. has a 12 month low of $125.23 and a 12 month high of $200.49. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $181.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $170.25.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share 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, analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $1.12 per share. 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 3.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Ares Management’s payout ratio is 183.25%.

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.