Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Takes $238,000 Position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. bought a new position in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 1,525 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $238,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ares Management by 0.7% in the third quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 11,538 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,798,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its position in Ares Management by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 6,392 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,070,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,560 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $399,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 21.0% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 559 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $87,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Finally, West Oak Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 40.0% during the 2nd quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 350 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on ARES. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on Ares Management in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $140.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $136.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Ares Management from $172.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $166.36.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 29,292 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.82, for a total transaction of $5,150,119.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 86,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,280,340.38. This represents a 25.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.05, for a total value of $10,728,750.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 602,357 shares of company stock worth $97,672,269. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ares Management Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:ARES opened at $176.73 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $55.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.44, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.20. Ares Management Co. has a 12 month low of $107.69 and a 12 month high of $180.38. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $165.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $150.42. 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 (NYSE:ARES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $833.58 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.83 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. 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.