Trueblood Wealth Management LLC Makes New $301,000 Investment in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Trueblood Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,533 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $301,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ARES. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ares Management by 1.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,761,015 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,621,336,000 after purchasing an additional 273,645 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in Ares Management by 7.3% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 11,389,511 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,097,379,000 after acquiring an additional 771,052 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,836,590 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $600,410,000 after purchasing an additional 1,255,866 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,068,718 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $295,671,000 after purchasing an additional 66,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 3.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,644,429 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $272,033,000 after purchasing an additional 78,781 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on ARES shares. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Ares Management from $146.00 to $157.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Ares Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $122.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $119.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Ares Management from $112.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Ares Management from $109.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.45.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In related news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 80,637 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.25, for a total value of $10,906,154.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,116,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $151,030,429. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Ares Management news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 80,637 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.25, for a total transaction of $10,906,154.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,116,676 shares in the company, valued at $151,030,429. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 38,915 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.46, for a total value of $5,154,680.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 96,085 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,727,419.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 494,429 shares of company stock valued at $66,106,355 in the last 90 days. 47.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ares Management Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Ares Management stock traded down $0.30 during trading on Thursday, reaching $132.98. 784,305 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 978,776. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $130.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $116.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. Ares Management Co. has a twelve month low of $77.97 and a twelve month high of $139.48.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. Ares Management had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The company had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $862.71 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.21 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ares Management Co. will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. This is a positive change from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 14th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 155.65%.

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.