Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) Given New $182.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) had its price target boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $156.00 to $182.00 in a report issued on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on ARES. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Ares Management from $197.00 to $152.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. JMP Securities raised shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to a “market outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Citizens Jmp upgraded Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $165.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Ares Management from $221.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $188.00 to $166.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Management has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $169.13.

Ares Management Stock Down 0.7 %

Ares Management stock opened at $159.63 on Tuesday. Ares Management has a fifty-two week low of $110.63 and a fifty-two week high of $200.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.40. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $146.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $167.60. 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 posted its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.15. Ares Management had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 11.35%. The firm had revenue of $951.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $914.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.80 EPS. Analysts predict that Ares Management will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 263.53%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ares Management news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.02, for a total value of $14,998,848.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,150,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $218,523,000. This trade represents a 6.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 69,809 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.01, for a total value of $11,239,947.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 30,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,861,052.91. The trade was a 69.81 % 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 ninety days. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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