Ares Management’s (ARES) “Overweight” Rating Reaffirmed at Barclays

Barclays reissued their overweight rating on shares of Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) in a report issued on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $224.00 price target on the asset manager’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $212.00 to $207.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Management presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $176.08.

Ares Management Price Performance

NYSE:ARES opened at $193.70 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ares Management has a 52 week low of $119.76 and a 52 week high of $197.53. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $180.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $163.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.64 billion, a PE ratio of 89.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $833.58 million. Ares Management had a net margin of 12.51% and a return on equity of 19.89%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.83 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ares Management will post 4.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 171.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Ryan Berry sold 1,671 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $292,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 253,214 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,312,450. The trade was a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 20,048 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.44, for a total transaction of $3,356,837.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 229,952 shares in the company, valued at $38,503,162.88. This represents a 8.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 574,167 shares of company stock valued at $99,996,647 over the last three months. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 9.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,244,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,284,773,000 after buying an additional 679,462 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in Ares Management by 1.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,301,709 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $982,058,000 after acquiring an additional 63,851 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Ares Management by 5.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,826,479 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $596,318,000 after buying an additional 187,184 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Ares Management by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,678,177 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $600,830,000 after purchasing an additional 18,773 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 6.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,950,451 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $459,580,000 after buying an additional 175,627 shares during the period. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ares Management Company Profile

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.