Strs Ohio Lowers Holdings in Ares Management Corporation $ARES

Strs Ohio decreased its stake in shares of Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES) by 3.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 173,797 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 5,931 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $30,102,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ARES. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ares Management during the first quarter valued at $31,000. Banque Transatlantique SA purchased a new position in shares of Ares Management in the first quarter worth $39,000. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Management in the second quarter worth $43,000. SouthState Corp purchased a new position in shares of Ares Management in the first quarter worth $48,000. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 69.5% in the first 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Stock Down 2.2%

Ares Management stock opened at $147.21 on Friday. Ares Management Corporation has a 1-year low of $110.63 and a 1-year high of $200.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market cap of $48.09 billion, a PE ratio of 85.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.43. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $164.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $168.25.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The asset manager reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 15.81%. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.99 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ares Management Corporation will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 transaction of $22,971,637.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 2,590,000 shares of company stock valued at $464,430,639 over the last three months. 36.86% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Ares Management from $189.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on Ares Management in a research report on Monday, July 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Cfra Research upgraded 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 five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $181.93.

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.