Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Has $907.53 Million Stock Holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,126,442 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 66,671 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $907,534,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ARES. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,006,357 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $531,197,000 after purchasing an additional 55,906 shares in the last quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC lifted its holdings in Ares Management by 282.2% during the fourth quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 1,139 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $202,000 after acquiring an additional 841 shares in the last quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in Ares Management in the fourth quarter valued at about $264,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 12,330 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,183,000 after acquiring an additional 1,661 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Ares Management by 31.1% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,290,741 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $228,500,000 after purchasing an additional 306,181 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ARES has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com cut Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays lowered their target price on Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Ares Management from $215.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. One investment 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.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider David B. Kaplan sold 69,526 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.99, for a total transaction of $11,192,990.74. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,474 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,906,009.26. The trade was a 69.53 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.02, for a total value of $14,998,848.66. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,150,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $218,523,000. This represents a 6.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 329,113 shares of company stock valued at $54,409,915. 41.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ares Management Price Performance

NYSE:ARES opened at $149.47 on Wednesday. Ares Management Co. has a 52-week low of $125.23 and a 52-week high of $200.49. The company has a market cap of $47.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $170.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $170.70.

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

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.00%. This is an increase from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. Ares Management’s payout ratio is presently 183.25%.

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.