Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $176.08.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $212.00 to $207.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd.

Ares Management Price Performance

ARES stock opened at $198.21 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $181.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $163.45. The stock has a market cap of $62.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.18. Ares Management has a 1 year low of $119.76 and a 1 year high of $199.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $833.58 million. Ares Management had a return on equity of 19.89% and a net margin of 12.51%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.83 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Ares Management will post 4.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 20,096 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.44, for a total transaction of $3,364,874.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 229,904 shares in the company, valued at $38,495,125.76. The trade was a 8.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ryan Berry sold 1,671 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $292,425.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 253,214 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,312,450. The trade was a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 574,167 shares of company stock valued at $99,996,647 in the last ninety days. 1.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ares Management

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC grew its stake in Ares Management by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC now owns 14,022 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,482,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Ares Management by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,799 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $496,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in Ares Management by 67.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 162 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Ares Management by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 2,352 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $416,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,147 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $203,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.