Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) by 2.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 406,363 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 10,942 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.13% of Ares Management worth $63,328,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Curated Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Ares Management by 199.7% during the second quarter. Curated Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,658,217 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $221,007,000 after purchasing an additional 3,321,434 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Management during the 1st quarter valued at $264,729,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 58.5% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,058,394 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $674,183,000 after buying an additional 1,867,933 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Management in the 2nd quarter worth $209,884,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Ares Management by 722.6% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,738,148 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $231,660,000 after acquiring an additional 1,526,856 shares during the period. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ares Management Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of ARES opened at $168.94 on Friday. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $159.59 and a 200 day moving average of $147.42. The company has a market cap of $52.88 billion, a PE ratio of 77.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.20. Ares Management Co. has a 52-week low of $101.44 and a 52-week high of $175.74.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $833.58 million. Ares Management had a net margin of 12.51% and a return on equity of 19.89%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.83 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 4.07 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 171.43%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARES has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Ares Management from $172.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $136.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $166.36.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ryan Berry sold 18,329 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.18, for a total value of $3,210,874.22. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 254,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,650,754.30. This represents a 6.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.05, for a total transaction of $10,728,750.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 561,280 shares of company stock valued at $83,030,436. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.