Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES) has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from 17 research firms, with an average target price of approximately $182.73.
• Recent insider transactions include Chairman Antony P. Ressler selling 176,784 shares and CEO Michael J. Arougheti selling 44,760 shares, reflecting significant insider activity.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.12 per share, representing a 2.5% yield, with a payout ratio of 258.96%.

Shares of Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the seventeen research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and thirteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $182.7333.

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on ARES shares. Raymond James Financial started coverage on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Monday, July 28th. They set a "market perform" rating for the company. JMP Securities raised their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Cfra Research raised shares of Ares Management to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $182.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut shares of Ares Management from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 176,784 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.05, for a total value of $31,299,607.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 400,578 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $70,922,334.90. The trade was a 30.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 44,760 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.19, for a total transaction of $7,975,784.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,274,422 shares of company stock valued at $408,064,869 over the last ninety days. 0.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ares Management

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the 2nd quarter valued at $328,910,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ares Management by 9.1% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,936,367 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $3,626,179,000 after buying an additional 1,746,376 shares during the period. Winslow Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the 2nd quarter valued at $161,774,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ares Management by 394.8% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 766,267 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $135,652,000 after buying an additional 611,414 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ares Management by 7.6% during 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 period. 50.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Management Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of ARES opened at $177.37 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $181.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $165.26. Ares Management has a 1-year low of $110.63 and a 1-year high of $200.49. The stock has a market cap of $57.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 102.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.44.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The asset manager reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a return on equity of 15.81% and a net margin of 9.47%.The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.99 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Ares Management will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be paid a $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. Ares Management's payout ratio is presently 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.

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