Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Receives $126.17 Average PT from Analysts

Shares of Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the twelve analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $126.17.

ARES has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays cut their price target on Ares Management from $157.00 to $153.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Ares Management from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $122.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Ares Management from $109.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $119.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 9th.

Ares Management Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ARES traded down $0.17 during trading on Friday, hitting $133.56. The company's stock had a trading volume of 501,218 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,012,229. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market cap of $41.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a 50-day moving average of $133.07 and a 200-day moving average of $120.74. Ares Management has a 12 month low of $77.97 and a 12 month high of $139.48.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The asset manager reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.11. Ares Management had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 21.01%. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $862.71 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.21 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Ares Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.79%. Ares Management's dividend payout ratio is presently 155.65%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 175,152 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.56, for a total value of $23,393,301.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 175,152 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.56, for a total value of $23,393,301.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 38,915 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.46, for a total value of $5,154,680.90. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 96,085 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,727,419.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,494,440 shares of company stock valued at $199,049,946 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 47.34% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Ares Management

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,392,349 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,949,378,000 after acquiring an additional 631,334 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Ares Management by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,836,590 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $600,410,000 after buying an additional 1,255,866 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Ares Management by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,872,559 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $460,525,000 after buying an additional 71,819 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 3.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,644,429 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $272,033,000 after acquiring an additional 78,781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Ares Management in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $205,499,000. 50.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.