State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Buys 9,075 Shares of Ares Management Corporation $ARES

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its stake in shares of Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES) by 15.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 67,253 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,075 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $11,648,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ares Management by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 452,396 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $78,355,000 after acquiring an additional 36,139 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 9.4% during the 2nd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 81,032 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $14,035,000 after buying an additional 6,945 shares in the last quarter. AlTi Global Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ares Management during the 2nd quarter worth $418,000. Paragon Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 41.3% during the 2nd quarter. Paragon Advisors LLC now owns 17,960 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,111,000 after buying an additional 5,248 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 2,274 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $394,000 after buying an additional 269 shares in the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ares Management Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of Ares Management stock opened at $149.42 on Friday. Ares Management Corporation has a one year low of $110.63 and a one year high of $200.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $166.89 and its 200 day moving average is $167.96. The firm has a market cap of $48.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.37, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.43.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The asset manager reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.15 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. Ares Management had a return on equity of 15.81% and a net margin of 9.47%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.99 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ares Management Corporation will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th were paid a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is 258.96%.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

In other news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 128,837 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.30, for a total value of $22,971,637.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold 2,590,000 shares of company stock valued at $464,430,639 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 36.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on ARES. Cfra Research raised Ares Management to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. JMP Securities increased their price target on Ares Management from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Barclays decreased their price target on Ares Management from $200.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Ares Management from $178.00 to $175.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $181.93.

Ares Management Company 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.