Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Ares Management Corporation $ARES

Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,205 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 9.1% in the first quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 746 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $108,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New increased its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 3.4% in the second quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New now owns 1,890 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $327,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 5.5% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,344 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $197,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Canton Hathaway LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 9.5% in the first quarter. Canton Hathaway LLC now owns 865 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $127,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 1.8% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 4,360 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $639,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

In other news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 136,516 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.74, for a total value of $24,946,933.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 311,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,965,174.72. This trade represents a 30.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 196,197 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total value of $35,078,061.63. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 1,424,538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $254,693,149.02. The trade was a 12.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,590,000 shares of company stock valued at $464,430,639 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ARES. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $215.00 price objective on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Monday. Raymond James Financial began coverage on Ares Management in a research report on Monday, July 28th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Ares Management from $193.00 to $203.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Ares Management from $189.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.73.

Ares Management Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ARES opened at $163.21 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $181.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $167.28. Ares Management Corporation has a 52 week low of $110.63 and a 52 week high of $200.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.32 billion, a PE ratio of 94.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.44.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The asset manager reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.15 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 15.81%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.99 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Ares Management Corporation will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is 258.96%.

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.