Analysts Set Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES) PT at $187.46

Shares of Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the seventeen ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $187.4615.

Several brokerages have weighed in on ARES. Oppenheimer set a $190.00 price objective on Ares Management and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $156.00 price objective for the company. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Ares Management from $200.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their price target 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.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

In related news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 177,929 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.61, for a total transaction of $31,779,898.69. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 865,517 shares in the company, valued at $154,589,991.37. This represents a 17.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 1,424,538 shares of company stock valued at $253,740,251 in the last quarter. 36.86% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in Ares Management by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 190 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Management during the second quarter valued at about $35,000. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the second quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ares Management during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. 50.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Management Stock Performance

Shares of ARES stock opened at $150.16 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $154.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $168.44. Ares Management has a 12 month low of $110.63 and a 12 month high of $200.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.08 billion, a PE ratio of 86.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.45.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 31st. The asset manager reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. Ares Management had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 15.81%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.55 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Ares Management will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 17th will be given a dividend of $0.8438 per share. This represents a $3.38 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 192.27%.

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.