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

Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the twelve ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $126.17.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ARES. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ares Management from $112.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Ares Management from $157.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 8th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group increased their target price on Ares Management from $156.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Ares Management from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 38,915 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,727,419.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 38,915 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.46, for a total value of $5,154,680.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 96,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,727,419.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 82,796 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.47, for a total value of $11,299,170.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,245,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $170,004,636.63. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,494,440 shares of company stock worth $199,049,946 in the last quarter. 47.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ares Management

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Compass Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Management during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Rise Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 73.9% in the 4th quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 240 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. West Oak Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 250 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ARES opened at $133.71 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $133.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $120.58. Ares Management has a twelve month low of $77.97 and a twelve month high of $139.48. The company has a market cap of $41.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.95, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. Ares Management had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 13.06%. The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $862.71 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.21 EPS. Research analysts predict that Ares Management will post 4.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is 155.65%.

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.