2Xideas AG Has $2.70 Million Stock Holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

2Xideas AG reduced its position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 73.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 15,270 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 42,302 shares during the period. 2Xideas AG’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $2,703,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ARES. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,807,718 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,329,530,000 after acquiring an additional 907,757 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Ares Management by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,277,879 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,465,433,000 after purchasing an additional 33,700 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,126,442 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $907,534,000 after purchasing an additional 66,671 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position 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 buying an additional 187,184 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 0.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,678,177 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $600,830,000 after buying an additional 18,773 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Bank of America reduced their target price on Ares Management from $221.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Ares Management from $188.00 to $166.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Management presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.38.

Ares Management Stock Down 10.0 %

Ares Management stock opened at $117.54 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $166.59 and a 200-day moving average of $170.21. 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 Co. has a twelve month low of $113.24 and a twelve month high of $200.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.07 billion, a PE ratio of 57.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 11.35%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a $1.12 dividend. This is a boost from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.81%. Ares Management’s payout ratio is presently 183.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.02, for a total transaction of $14,998,848.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,150,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $218,523,000. This represents a 6.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 110,845 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.17, for a total value of $16,978,128.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,400,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $214,438,000. This represents a 7.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 329,113 shares of company stock valued at $54,409,915 in the last quarter. 41.89% of the stock is currently owned by 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.