Quilter Plc Reduces Stake in Ares Management Corporation $ARES

Quilter Plc cut its stake in shares of Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES) by 0.8% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 641,739 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 5,321 shares during the quarter. Ares Management comprises 2.0% of Quilter Plc’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest position. Quilter Plc’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $111,149,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ARES. CWM LLC raised its holdings in Ares Management by 9.6% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,950 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $432,000 after buying an additional 258 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in Ares Management by 129.6% during the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,988 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $291,000 after acquiring an additional 1,122 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 8.6% in the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 18,430 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,702,000 after acquiring an additional 1,460 shares during the period. GW&K Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 69.5% in the 1st quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 373 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighPoint Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 21.0% in the 1st quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,714 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $262,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ares Management news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 128,837 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.30, for a total value of $22,971,637.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 1,989,059 shares of company stock worth $355,167,794 over the last 90 days. 36.86% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $215.00 target price on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Cfra Research upgraded Ares Management to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Raymond James Financial started coverage on Ares Management in a research note on Monday, July 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Management currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $187.46.

Ares Management Trading Up 1.8%

NYSE ARES opened at $145.22 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $156.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $168.71. Ares Management Corporation has a one year low of $110.63 and a one year high of $200.49. The company has a market capitalization of $47.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion for 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 period last year, the company posted $0.55 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Ares Management Corporation will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Cuts Dividend

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

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.