Forsta AP Fonden Cuts Stock Position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Forsta AP Fonden trimmed its position in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 6.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 62,600 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 4,500 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $11,082,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ARES. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Ares Management by 1.5% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 13,518 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,802,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the period. Creative Planning increased its holdings in Ares Management by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 18,425 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,456,000 after purchasing an additional 966 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in Ares Management by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 31,294 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,403 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 139.2% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 6,262 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $835,000 after buying an additional 3,644 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Management during the second quarter worth about $923,000. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Management Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ARES opened at $198.21 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.34, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $181.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $163.45. Ares Management Co. has a 12 month low of $119.76 and a 12 month high of $199.04.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $833.58 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.83 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In related news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 115,838 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.83, for a total value of $20,599,471.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,259,162 shares in the company, valued at approximately $223,916,778.46. This represents a 8.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Ryan Berry sold 18,329 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.18, for a total value of $3,210,874.22. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 254,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,650,754.30. The trade was a 6.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 574,167 shares of company stock worth $99,996,647. 1.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on ARES shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Ares Management from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $224.00 target price on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Ares Management from $136.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.08.

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.