Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Buys 864 Shares of Ares Management Corporation $ARES

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its stake in Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES) by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 54,265 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 864 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $9,399,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ARES. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ares Management in the first quarter valued at $28,000. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ares Management in the first quarter valued at $31,000. Banque Transatlantique SA bought a new stake in Ares Management in the first quarter valued at $39,000. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Ares Management in the second quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, SouthState Corp bought a new stake in Ares Management in the first quarter valued at $48,000. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Ares Management from $193.00 to $203.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Oppenheimer set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Ares Management and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Ares Management in a report on Friday, October 3rd. They set a “market perform” rating and a $156.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Ares Management in a report on Monday, July 28th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $181.31.

Ares Management Stock Up 0.4%

Ares Management stock opened at $141.74 on Friday. Ares Management Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $110.63 and a fifty-two week high of $200.49. The stock has a market cap of $46.31 billion, a PE ratio of 81.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.43. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $170.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $167.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08.

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

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. Ares Management’s payout ratio is 258.96%.

Insider Activity

In other Ares Management news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 136,516 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.74, for a total value of $24,946,933.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 311,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,965,174.72. The trade was a 30.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 196,197 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total transaction of $35,078,061.63. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 1,424,538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $254,693,149.02. This represents a 12.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,590,000 shares of company stock worth $464,430,639. 36.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.