TD Cowen Raises Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) Price Target to $171.00

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) had its price target lifted by TD Cowen from $154.00 to $171.00 in a research note released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. UBS Group boosted their target price on Ares Management from $156.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Ares Management from $109.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Ares Management from $131.00 to $127.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Ares Management from $153.00 to $150.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $130.15.

Ares Management Price Performance

Ares Management stock opened at $146.01 on Wednesday. Ares Management has a 52 week low of $82.89 and a 52 week high of $150.12. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $136.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $125.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market cap of $45.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.48, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.17.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The asset manager reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.93 by ($0.13). Ares Management had a return on equity of 21.22% and a net margin of 12.86%. The business had revenue of $707.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $814.88 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Ares Management will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Ares Management’s payout ratio is 166.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 157,837 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.22, for a total transaction of $23,394,600.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 92,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,660,399.86. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Ares Management news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 157,837 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.22, for a total transaction of $23,394,600.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 92,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,660,399.86. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 174,258 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.89, for a total value of $23,505,661.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,488,844 shares of company stock valued at $200,239,222 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,599,345 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,207,381,000 after acquiring an additional 206,996 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,836,590 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $600,410,000 after acquiring an additional 1,255,866 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ares Management by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,872,559 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $460,525,000 after buying an additional 71,819 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Ares Management by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,644,429 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $272,033,000 after buying an additional 78,781 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the 1st quarter worth approximately $264,729,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

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.