Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) Upgraded to “Outperform” at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report released on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $202.00 price target on the asset manager’s stock, up from their previous price target of $166.00.

ARES has been the topic of a number of other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ares Management from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $140.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Ares Management from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $172.33.

Ares Management Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ARES opened at $176.04 on Friday. Ares Management has a one year low of $112.83 and a one year high of $185.06. The company has a market capitalization of $55.11 billion, a PE ratio of 81.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $171.85 and a 200-day moving average of $153.81.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.01. Ares Management had a net margin of 12.51% and a return on equity of 19.89%. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $833.58 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.83 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ares Management will post 4.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 171.43%.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

In related news, insider Ryan Berry sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.07, for a total transaction of $3,201,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 344,202 shares in the company, valued at $55,096,414.14. This represents a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 15,825 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.24, for a total transaction of $2,646,573.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 214,079 shares in the company, valued at $35,802,571.96. This represents a 6.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 634,167 shares of company stock worth $109,917,647 in the last 90 days. 1.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ares Management

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ARES. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ares Management by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 65,417 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,195,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Ares Management by 5.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 682,985 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $106,436,000 after acquiring an additional 36,476 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its stake in Ares Management by 31.2% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 22,750 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,545,000 after acquiring an additional 5,404 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Ares Management during the third quarter valued at $900,000. Finally, BNP Paribas boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 40,342 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,319,000 after purchasing an additional 4,643 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.