Ryan Berry Sells 12,500 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Stock

Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) insider Ryan Berry sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.40, for a total value of $1,930,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 376,702 shares in the company, valued at $58,162,788.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Ryan Berry also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, September 16th, Ryan Berry sold 12,500 shares of Ares Management stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.42, for a total value of $1,855,250.00.
• On Thursday, September 12th, Ryan Berry sold 1 shares of Ares Management stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.01, for a total value of $144.01.
• On Monday, September 9th, Ryan Berry sold 10,000 shares of Ares Management stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.12, for a total value of $1,421,200.00.
• On Thursday, September 5th, Ryan Berry sold 57,500 shares of Ares Management stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.74, for a total value of $8,092,550.00.

Ares Management Price Performance

Shares of Ares Management stock opened at $156.66 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $145.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $139.27. Ares Management Co. has a 12 month low of $96.00 and a 12 month high of $157.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.25, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The asset manager reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.01. Ares Management had a return on equity of 20.46% and a net margin of 12.53%. The business had revenue of $788.68 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $860.09 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 4.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. Ares Management’s payout ratio is currently 166.82%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Management

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ARES. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 1.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,599,345 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,207,381,000 after purchasing an additional 206,996 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 58.5% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,058,394 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $674,183,000 after purchasing an additional 1,867,933 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 49.4% in the second quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 2,822,565 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $376,191,000 after purchasing an additional 933,664 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 24.4% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,316,584 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $308,754,000 after purchasing an additional 453,657 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 38.5% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,171,188 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $289,376,000 after purchasing an additional 603,676 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARES has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group lowered their target price on Ares Management from $160.00 to $158.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Barclays upped their target price on Ares Management from $151.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Ares Management from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Ares Management from $141.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Ares Management in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $156.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $141.42.

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.