Brokerages Set Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES) Price Target at $182.73

Shares of Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the nineteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $180.8125.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Ares Management from $193.00 to $203.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on Ares Management in a research report on Monday, July 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Cfra Research raised shares of Ares Management to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Ares Management from $189.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In related news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 136,516 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.74, for a total transaction of $24,946,933.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 311,728 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,965,174.72. This represents a 30.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 196,197 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total value of $35,078,061.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 1,424,538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $254,693,149.02. This trade represents a 12.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,590,000 shares of company stock worth $464,430,639. 0.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Management

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ARES. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the second quarter worth about $328,910,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Ares Management by 9.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,936,367 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,626,179,000 after purchasing an additional 1,746,376 shares during the last quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Management in the 2nd quarter valued at $161,774,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Ares Management by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,454,083 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $596,280,000 after buying an additional 244,286 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in Ares Management by 24.9% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,208,292 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $177,148,000 after acquiring an additional 240,564 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Price Performance

Shares of ARES opened at $152.31 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.76 billion, a PE ratio of 88.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.43. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $179.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $167.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. Ares Management has a 52-week low of $110.63 and a 52-week high of $200.49.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The asset manager reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.15 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 15.81%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.99 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Ares Management will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 258.96%.

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.