Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC cut its stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 27,545 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,247 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $4,876,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ares Management by 8.2% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 61,417 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $8,186,000 after buying an additional 4,629 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Ares Management by 59.3% in the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,171 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $556,000 after purchasing an additional 1,553 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Management during the 2nd quarter worth about $78,000. Choreo LLC purchased a new position in Ares Management in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $566,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in Ares Management by 16.0% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 12,903 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,720,000 after purchasing an additional 1,775 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Price Performance

Shares of Ares Management stock traded up $0.97 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $176.01. 934,353 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,076,528. The company has a market cap of $55.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.18. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $158.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ares Management Co. has a fifty-two week low of $112.83 and a fifty-two week high of $185.06.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.01. Ares Management had a net margin of 12.51% and a return on equity of 19.89%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $833.58 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.83 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is 171.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other news, insider Ryan Berry sold 14,357 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.16, for a total transaction of $2,586,557.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 233,214 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,015,834.24. The trade was a 5.80 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider David B. Kaplan sold 19,775 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.45, for a total value of $3,311,323.75. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 230,225 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,551,176.25. This trade represents a 7.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 614,167 shares of company stock worth $106,716,247 over the last ninety days. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on ARES shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ares Management from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $176.00 to $212.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada increased 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. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Ares Management from $136.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Management has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $172.33.

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.