Townsquare Capital LLC Boosts Stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 4.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 64,014 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 2,542 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $9,976,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Ares Management by 86.4% in the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,536 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $470,000 after purchasing an additional 1,639 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 280.1% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 16,309 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,169,000 after buying an additional 12,018 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its position in Ares Management by 59.8% during the first quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 5,739 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $767,000 after buying an additional 2,147 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Management during the first quarter worth about $974,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in Ares Management by 45.9% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 82,717 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $11,000,000 after acquiring an additional 26,012 shares during the period. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In other news, insider David B. Kaplan sold 14,536 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.63, for a total transaction of $2,116,877.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 29,292 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.82, for a total value of $5,150,119.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 86,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,280,340.38. This represents a 25.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 631,855 shares of company stock valued at $101,967,913 in the last quarter. Insiders own 41.89% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARES has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Ares Management from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Barclays boosted their target price on Ares Management from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on Ares Management in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $140.00 price target for the company. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Management presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $166.36.

Ares Management Price Performance

NYSE:ARES opened at $174.78 on Thursday. Ares Management Co. has a 52-week low of $107.69 and a 52-week high of $180.38. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $165.19 and a 200 day moving average of $149.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.20.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $833.58 million. Ares Management had a return on equity of 19.89% and a net margin of 12.51%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.83 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 171.43%.

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.