Morse Asset Management Inc Increases Position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Morse Asset Management Inc raised its position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 0.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 14,035 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 95 shares during the quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $2,187,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ARES. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,867,933 shares during the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new position in Ares Management during the 2nd quarter worth $209,884,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in Ares Management by 722.6% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,738,148 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $231,660,000 after purchasing an additional 1,526,856 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC grew its position in Ares Management by 49.4% during the 2nd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 2,822,565 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $376,191,000 after purchasing an additional 933,664 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Ares Management by 31.3% during the 3rd 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. 50.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In related news, insider Ryan Berry sold 5,443 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.14, for a total value of $980,502.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 247,771 shares in the company, valued at $44,633,467.94. This represents a 2.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 20,096 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.44, for a total transaction of $3,364,874.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 229,904 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,495,125.76. This represents a 8.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 644,810 shares of company stock worth $111,116,340. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Trading Up 3.6 %

Shares of ARES stock opened at $182.45 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $57.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ares Management Co. has a fifty-two week low of $110.41 and a fifty-two week high of $183.87. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $169.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $152.17.

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

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.04%. Ares Management’s payout ratio is 171.43%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on ARES. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $136.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Ares Management from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Management has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $166.36.

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.