R. Kipp Deveer Sells 78,933 Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Stock

Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.02, for a total value of $14,998,848.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,150,000 shares in the company, valued at $218,523,000. The trade was a 6.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

R. Kipp Deveer also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, December 6th, R. Kipp Deveer sold 115,838 shares of Ares Management stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.83, for a total value of $20,599,471.54.

Ares Management Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of Ares Management stock opened at $186.40 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $184.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $166.19. Ares Management Co. has a 52-week low of $125.23 and a 52-week high of $200.49. The firm has a market cap of $58.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 11.35%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 5.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.40%. This is a boost from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Ares Management’s payout ratio is currently 183.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARES has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ares Management from $207.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $176.17.

Institutional Trading of Ares Management

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. TD Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Ares Management by 4,557.2% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,304,759 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $230,981,000 after purchasing an additional 1,276,743 shares during the last quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. lifted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 57.1% in the fourth quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. now owns 39,340 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,960,000 after buying an additional 14,293 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the 4th quarter worth $380,000. CoreFirst Bank & Trust acquired a new position in Ares Management in the 4th quarter valued at $724,000. Finally, Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC bought a new position in Ares Management in the 4th quarter worth $17,206,000. Institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

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.