Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Acquires 1,471 Shares of Ares Management Corporation $ARES

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its holdings in shares of Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES) by 2.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 58,850 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,471 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $10,193,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in Ares Management by 129.6% in the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,988 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $291,000 after acquiring an additional 1,122 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Ares Management by 40.7% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 7,960 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,167,000 after acquiring an additional 2,302 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its stake in Ares Management by 4.2% in the first quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 53,401 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,829,000 after acquiring an additional 2,171 shares in the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. boosted its stake in Ares Management by 99.5% in the first quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 31,765 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,657,000 after acquiring an additional 15,846 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. acquired a new stake in Ares Management in the first quarter valued at approximately $667,000. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ares Management news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 196,197 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chairman 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 136,516 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.74, for a total transaction of $24,946,933.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 311,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,965,174.72. The trade was a 30.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,590,000 shares of company stock valued at $464,430,639 in the last ninety days. 36.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARES has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Ares Management from $182.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Cfra Research upgraded shares of Ares Management to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $189.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $193.00 to $203.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Raymond James Financial started coverage on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Monday, July 28th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.73.

Ares Management Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of Ares Management stock opened at $163.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $181.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $166.96. Ares Management Corporation has a 1 year low of $110.63 and a 1 year high of $200.49. The stock has a market cap of $53.25 billion, a PE ratio of 94.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.44.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The asset manager reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.99 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Ares Management Corporation will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. Ares Management’s payout ratio is presently 258.96%.

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.