Vestcor Inc Lowers Holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Vestcor Inc decreased its stake in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 19.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,107 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 734 shares during the quarter. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $550,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 6,007 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,063,000 after buying an additional 665 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 7,227 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,279,000 after buying an additional 777 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the fourth quarter worth about $5,038,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 6,006 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,063,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,168 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $384,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on ARES shares. Barclays lowered their price target on Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $166.00 to $202.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Ares Management from $207.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $176.17.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.02, for a total value of $14,998,848.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,150,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $218,523,000. The trade was a 6.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ashish Bhutani acquired 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $141.33 per share, with a total value of $1,413,300.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 22,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,237,163.65. This represents a 77.49 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 218,268 shares of company stock valued at $37,431,786. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ares Management Price Performance

ARES stock opened at $144.10 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $178.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $170.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market cap of $45.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23. Ares Management Co. has a 52-week low of $125.23 and a 52-week high of $200.49.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 11.35%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This is a boost from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.11%. Ares Management’s payout ratio is presently 183.25%.

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.