Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and thirteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $180.0625.

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ARES. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Ares Management from $195.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Barclays raised their price objective on Ares Management from $182.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Wolfe Research set a $193.00 target price on Ares Management and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Ares Management from $193.00 to $203.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th.

Ares Management Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ARES opened at $178.8010 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. Ares Management has a one year low of $110.63 and a one year high of $200.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 103.35, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.40. The company’s fifty day moving average is $179.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $166.32.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The asset manager reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.15 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. Ares Management had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 15.81%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.99 EPS. Analysts forecast that Ares Management will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. Ares Management’s payout ratio is presently 258.96%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 136,516 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.74, for a total value of $24,946,933.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 311,728 shares in the company, valued at $56,965,174.72. This represents a 30.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 85,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.79, for a total transaction of $14,347,150.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 458,917 shares of company stock valued at $81,863,970 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 36.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ares Management

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the second quarter valued at $291,000. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Ares Management in the 2nd quarter valued at about $525,000. Evergreen Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Ares Management in the 2nd quarter valued at about $359,000. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 20.5% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 7,201 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,247,000 after purchasing an additional 1,227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 3,250.7% during the second quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 70,030 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $12,129,000 after buying an additional 67,940 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

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.