Brokerages Set Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Price Target at $172.33

Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $172.33.

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Ares Management from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd.

Ares Management Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ARES opened at $178.63 on Wednesday. Ares Management has a 12-month low of $112.83 and a 12-month high of $185.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $174.69 and a 200 day moving average of $157.86.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during 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 previous year, the firm posted $0.83 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ares Management will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 171.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 115,838 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.83, for a total transaction of $20,599,471.54. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,259,162 shares in the company, valued at $223,916,778.46. The trade was a 8.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ryan Berry sold 1,671 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $292,425.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 253,214 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,312,450. This trade represents a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 614,167 shares of company stock worth $106,716,247 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 41.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ares Management

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARES. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 58.5% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,058,394 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $674,183,000 after buying an additional 1,867,933 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Management in the second quarter worth $209,884,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ares Management by 722.6% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,738,148 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $231,660,000 after purchasing an additional 1,526,856 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 9.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,244,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,284,773,000 after purchasing an additional 679,462 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 31.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,849,737 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $444,103,000 after purchasing an additional 678,549 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

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.