EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,168 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $384,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,244,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,284,773,000 after purchasing an additional 679,462 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,301,709 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $982,058,000 after purchasing an additional 63,851 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,826,479 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $596,318,000 after purchasing an additional 187,184 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,678,177 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $600,830,000 after purchasing an additional 18,773 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Ares Management by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,201,863 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $566,826,000 after buying an additional 352,126 shares in the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on ARES shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com lowered Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Ares Management from $207.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays reduced their target price 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. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $176.17.

Ares Management Stock Up 2.8 %

Ares Management stock opened at $144.10 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $45.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23. Ares Management Co. has a 52 week low of $125.23 and a 52 week high of $200.49. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $178.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $169.82. 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 posted its earnings results 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.11%. This is a positive change from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 183.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ares Management news, Director Ashish Bhutani purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $141.33 per share, for a total transaction of $1,413,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 22,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,237,163.65. This trade represents a 77.49 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider David B. Kaplan sold 69,526 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.99, for a total value of $11,192,990.74. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,474 shares in the company, valued at $4,906,009.26. This represents a 69.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 218,268 shares of company stock valued at $37,431,786 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

About Ares Management

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.