Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) and Cohen & Steers (NYSE:CNS) Financial Survey

Cohen & Steers (NYSE:CNS) and Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Volatility and Risk

Cohen & Steers has a beta of 1.19, meaning that its stock price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ares Management has a beta of 1.49, meaning that its stock price is 49% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Cohen & Steers and Ares Management’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cohen & Steers	28.16%	26.90%	19.14%
Ares Management	7.51%	25.74%	6.31%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Cohen & Steers and Ares Management”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cohen & Steers	$556.12 million	6.77	$153.22 million	$3.26	22.44
Ares Management	$5.60 billion	7.61	$527.36 million	$1.24	104.07

Ares Management has higher revenue and earnings than Cohen & Steers. Cohen & Steers is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ares Management, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Cohen & Steers and Ares Management, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cohen & Steers	1	1	1	0	2.00
Ares Management	0	9	11	1	2.62

Cohen & Steers currently has a consensus target price of $88.00, indicating a potential upside of 20.28%. Ares Management has a consensus target price of $146.21, indicating a potential upside of 13.30%. Given Cohen & Steers’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Cohen & Steers is more favorable than Ares Management.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

51.5% of Cohen & Steers shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 50.0% of Ares Management shares are owned by institutional investors. 45.4% of Cohen & Steers shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 34.7% of Ares Management shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Cohen & Steers pays an annual dividend of $2.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Ares Management pays an annual dividend of $5.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. Cohen & Steers pays out 82.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Ares Management pays out 435.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Cohen & Steers has raised its dividend for 16 consecutive years and Ares Management has raised its dividend for 7 consecutive years.

About Cohen & Steers

Cohen & Steers, Inc. is a holding company, which operates as an investment manager specializing in liquid real assets, which include real estate securities, listed infrastructure, commodities, natural resource equities, preferred securities, and other income solutions. It manages investment vehicles, such as institutional accounts, open-end funds and closed-end funds. The company was founded by Martin Cohen and Robert Hamilton Steers in 1986 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

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. Its Direct Lending Group segment provides financing solutions to small-to-medium sized companies. The company's Private Equity Group segment focuses on majority or shared-control investments primarily in under-capitalized companies. Its Real Estate Group segment invests in new developments and the repositioning of assets, with a focus on control or majority-control investments; and originates and invests in a range of self-originated financing opportunities for middle-market owners and operators of commercial real estate. The firm was previously known as Ares Management, L.P. Ares Management Corporation was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California with additional offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. Ares Management GP LLC is the general partner of the company.