Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Boosts Stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd increased its position in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 55.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,728 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 619 shares during the quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $269,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ARES. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Ares Management by 58.5% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,058,394 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $674,183,000 after acquiring an additional 1,867,933 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 31.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,849,737 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $444,103,000 after purchasing an additional 678,549 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC grew its position 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 period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in 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, Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Ares Management by 722.6% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,738,148 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $231,660,000 after buying an additional 1,526,856 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.05, for a total transaction of $10,728,750.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 14,962 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.62, for a total transaction of $2,178,766.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,375,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $200,227,500. The trade was a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 645,388 shares of company stock worth $103,931,822 over the last quarter. 1.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Ares Management from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Ares Management from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ares Management has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $166.36.

Ares Management Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of Ares Management stock opened at $178.81 on Wednesday. Ares Management Co. has a 1-year low of $107.69 and a 1-year high of $178.88. The company has a market capitalization of $55.98 billion, a PE ratio of 82.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The business has a 50-day moving average of $164.75 and a 200-day moving average of $149.78.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.01. Ares Management had a return on equity of 19.89% and a net margin of 12.51%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $833.58 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.83 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 171.43%.

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.