Gardner Lewis Asset Management L P Takes $894,000 Position in Ares Management Corporation $ARES

Gardner Lewis Asset Management L P purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 5,590 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $894,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,676,470 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,465,851,000 after buying an additional 740,103 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Ares Management by 2.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,534,773 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $565,180,000 after acquiring an additional 94,825 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Ares Management by 7.6% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,454,083 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $596,280,000 after purchasing an additional 244,286 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Ares Management by 10.2% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 2,586,253 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $413,516,000 after purchasing an additional 238,531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Ares Management during the second quarter valued at approximately $328,910,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ashish Bhutani purchased 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $126.61 per share, for a total transaction of $1,266,100.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 34,071 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,313,729.31. This represents a 41.54% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 56,257 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.26, for a total value of $8,846,975.82. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 590,000 shares of company stock valued at $90,653,808. 36.86% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARES has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $178.00 price target on Ares Management in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $182.00 to $155.00 in a report on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $188.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ares Management presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $183.13.

Ares Management Trading Down 5.1%

Ares Management stock opened at $123.21 on Friday. Ares Management Corporation has a one year low of $110.63 and a one year high of $195.26. The business’s fifty day moving average is $156.00 and its 200 day moving average is $161.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.27 billion, a PE ratio of 72.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.22 and a quick ratio of 0.22.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.71 by ($0.26). The business had revenue of $1.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.38 billion. Ares Management had a return on equity of 19.26% and a net margin of 9.41%.During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.55 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ares Management Corporation will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 17th will be issued a $1.35 dividend. This is an increase from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is 265.09%.

About Ares Management

Ares Management Corporation (NYSE: ARES) is a global alternative asset manager that provides investment solutions across credit, private equity and real estate. The firm originates and manages capital across a range of strategies including direct lending, syndicated and special situations credit, private equity buyouts and growth investments, and real estate equity and debt. Ares serves institutional investors, insurance companies, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and high?net?worth clients through both commingled funds and bespoke managed account structures.

Within credit, Ares offers strategies spanning leveraged loans, structured credit, opportunistic and distressed debt, and specialty finance, with an emphasis on underwriting, portfolio construction and active asset management.