Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Shares Acquired by Hsbc Holdings PLC

Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 20.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 100,485 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,155 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $17,817,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ares Management by 31.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,849,737 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $444,103,000 after purchasing an additional 678,549 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Ares Management by 42.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 435,103 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $67,807,000 after buying an additional 129,611 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Management in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,036,000. Morse Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Ares Management by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 14,035 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,187,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 12,798 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,994,000 after acquiring an additional 1,091 shares during the period. 50.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on ARES shares. JMP Securities upgraded shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to a “market outperform” rating and set a $165.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America cut their target price on Ares Management from $221.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Citizens Jmp raised Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Ares Management from $216.00 to $161.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $159.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $165.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 110,845 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $214,438,000. This trade represents a 7.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.02, for a total value of $14,998,848.66. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,150,000 shares in the company, valued at $218,523,000. This trade represents a 6.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 329,113 shares of company stock worth $54,409,915. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ares Management Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of ARES opened at $153.86 on Friday. Ares Management Co. has a one year low of $110.63 and a one year high of $200.49. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $149.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $168.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The company has a market capitalization of $48.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 75.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.32.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released 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 net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 16.64%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. This is a positive change from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 183.25%.

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.