Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) Price Target Lowered to $142.00 at Barclays

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) had its target price lowered by Barclays from $217.00 to $142.00 in a report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

ARES has been the subject of several other research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Ares Management from $215.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. 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 report on Friday, December 20th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Ares Management from $221.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ares Management has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $166.07.

Ares Management Stock Up 15.7 %

ARES opened at $142.58 on Monday. Ares Management has a twelve month low of $110.63 and a twelve month high of $200.49. The firm has a market cap of $44.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.24, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.32. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $160.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $169.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 11.35%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ares Management will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.14%. This is an increase from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is 183.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ashish Bhutani acquired 10,000 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $141.33 per share, with a total value of $1,413,300.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 22,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,237,163.65. The trade was a 77.49 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 110,845 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.17, for a total transaction of $16,978,128.65. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,400,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $214,438,000. This represents a 7.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 329,113 shares of company stock valued at $54,409,915 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ares Management

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,807,718 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,329,530,000 after acquiring an additional 907,757 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Ares Management by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 10,753,779 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,903,741,000 after purchasing an additional 223,919 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Ares Management by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,277,879 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,465,433,000 after purchasing an additional 33,700 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Ares Management by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,109,070 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,258,519,000 after buying an additional 807,361 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Ares Management by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,126,442 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $907,534,000 after buying an additional 66,671 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

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.