Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $126.17.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Ares Management from $156.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Ares Management from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $122.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Ares Management from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Ares Management from $157.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 8th.

Ares Management Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ARES opened at $133.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $133.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $120.58. Ares Management has a fifty-two week low of $77.97 and a fifty-two week high of $139.48. The firm has a market cap of $41.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.17.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The asset manager reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. Ares Management had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $862.71 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.21 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ares Management will post 4.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 155.65%.

Insider Activity

In other Ares Management news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 80,637 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.25, for a total transaction of $10,906,154.25. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,116,676 shares in the company, valued at approximately $151,030,429. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 80,637 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.25, for a total value of $10,906,154.25. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,116,676 shares in the company, valued at $151,030,429. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 38,915 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.46, for a total transaction of $5,154,680.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 96,085 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,727,419.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,494,440 shares of company stock worth $199,049,946 over the last 90 days. 47.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ares Management

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Artemis Investment Management LLP boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 24.5% during the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 149,920 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $17,829,000 after buying an additional 29,457 shares in the last quarter. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. lifted its holdings in Ares Management by 31.4% during the fourth quarter. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. now owns 66,950 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,962,000 after purchasing an additional 16,010 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Ares Management by 2.0% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 10,512 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,109,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Genesee Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ares Management during the fourth quarter valued at $1,268,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Ares Management by 178.6% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 32,339 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,846,000 after purchasing an additional 20,730 shares in the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.