Ares Management Corporation $ARES Shares Sold by Fjell Capital LLC

Fjell Capital LLC reduced its stake in Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES) by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 7,065 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 90 shares during the quarter. Fjell Capital LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $1,224,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ARES. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ares Management by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,189,991 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,813,445,000 after purchasing an additional 382,273 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Management by 24.9% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,208,292 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $177,148,000 after buying an additional 240,564 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio purchased a new position in Ares Management in the first quarter worth approximately $26,350,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its stake in Ares Management by 18.3% in the first quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 1,128,415 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $165,437,000 after acquiring an additional 174,645 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Ares Management by 19.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 967,728 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $171,317,000 after acquiring an additional 159,757 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 196,197 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total transaction of $35,078,061.63. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 1,424,538 shares in the company, valued at $254,693,149.02. This represents a 12.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 136,516 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.74, for a total transaction of $24,946,933.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 311,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,965,174.72. This represents a 30.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,590,000 shares of company stock worth $464,430,639. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Stock Performance

NYSE ARES opened at $178.53 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. Ares Management Corporation has a 1 year low of $110.63 and a 1 year high of $200.49. The company has a market capitalization of $58.33 billion, a PE ratio of 103.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a fifty day moving average of $182.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $165.77.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The asset manager reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.15 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 15.81%. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.99 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Ares Management Corporation will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Ares Management’s payout ratio is 258.96%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ARES shares. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $195.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Barclays increased their target price on Ares Management from $182.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ares Management from $189.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Ares Management from $193.00 to $203.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Cfra Research raised Ares Management to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.73.

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.