Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Raises Dividend to $1.12 Per Share

Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 5th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of 1.12 per share by the asset manager on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This is a 20.4% increase from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93.

Ares Management has increased its dividend payment by an average of 25.5% per year over the last three years. Ares Management has a dividend payout ratio of 67.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Ares Management to earn $6.65 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 67.4%.

Ares Management Price Performance

NYSE:ARES opened at $144.10 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $178.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $169.82. Ares Management has a 1-year low of $125.23 and a 1-year high of $200.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.45 billion, a PE ratio of 70.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 16.64%. On average, research analysts expect that Ares Management will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, insider David B. Kaplan sold 69,526 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.99, for a total transaction of $11,192,990.74. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,474 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,906,009.26. The trade was a 69.53 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.02, for a total value of $14,998,848.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,150,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $218,523,000. This trade represents a 6.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 218,268 shares of company stock valued at $37,431,786 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on ARES. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Ares Management from $207.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Management currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $176.17.

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.