7,910 Shares in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Bought by Banco BTG Pactual S.A.

Banco BTG Pactual S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 7,910 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,415,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARES. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in Ares Management by 67.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 162 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Management during the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Ares Management by 53.4% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 227 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in Ares Management in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Avalon Trust Co purchased a new position in Ares Management in the fourth quarter valued at about $53,000. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ARES. Barclays lowered their target price on Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Ares Management from $215.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Management presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $173.83.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 69,809 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.01, for a total transaction of $11,239,947.09. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 30,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,861,052.91. The trade was a 69.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Ashish Bhutani acquired 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $141.33 per share, with a total value of $1,413,300.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 218,268 shares of company stock worth $37,431,786. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Stock Performance

Ares Management stock opened at $155.92 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $49.18 billion, a PE ratio of 76.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23. Ares Management Co. has a 12 month low of $125.23 and a 12 month high of $200.49. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $174.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $170.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. Research analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This is a boost from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Ares Management’s payout ratio is 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.