Prudential PLC Trims Stock Position in Ares Management Corporation $ARES

Prudential PLC decreased its position in Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES) by 14.3% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,950 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,160 shares during the period. Prudential PLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $1,204,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ARES. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Ares Management by 9.1% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,936,367 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,626,179,000 after purchasing an additional 1,746,376 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Ares Management by 0.4% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,308,330 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,218,084,000 after acquiring an additional 30,451 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Ares Management by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,454,083 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $596,280,000 after purchasing an additional 244,286 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Ares Management by 0.3% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 1,902,603 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $278,941,000 after acquiring an additional 5,424 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Ares Management by 5.5% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,727,563 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $253,278,000 after purchasing an additional 90,101 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Stock Up 2.4%

ARES opened at $147.76 on Monday. Ares Management Corporation has a 1 year low of $110.63 and a 1 year high of $200.49. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $154.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $168.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. The company has a market cap of $48.30 billion, a PE ratio of 85.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.45.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. Ares Management had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 15.81%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Ares Management Corporation will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.8438 per share. This represents a $3.38 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 192.27%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on ARES shares. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Ares Management from $175.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on Ares Management in a report on Monday, July 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $215.00 price objective on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ares Management has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $187.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 196,197 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chairman owned 1,424,538 shares in the company, valued at $254,693,149.02. This trade represents a 12.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,620,735 shares of company stock valued at $288,818,312. 36.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ares Management Company 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.