Piper Sandler Upgrades Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) to Strong-Buy

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) was upgraded by research analysts at Piper Sandler to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Thursday, Zacks reports.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Ares Management to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $162.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $144.00 target price on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Ares Management from $151.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $159.81.

Ares Management Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ARES opened at $119.99 on Thursday. Ares Management has a one year low of $95.80 and a one year high of $181.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.04, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $134.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $123.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a current ratio of 0.26.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The asset manager reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.27 billion. Ares Management had a return on equity of 25.42% and a net margin of 10.63%.The business’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Ares Management will post 5.93 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Management

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ARES. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the 4th quarter valued at about $396,165,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Management by 55.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,489,004 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $883,716,000 after acquiring an additional 1,963,460 shares during the last quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 40,652.1% during the fourth quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 807,300 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $130,484,000 after buying an additional 805,319 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 43.8% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,653,078 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $180,343,000 after purchasing an additional 503,688 shares during the period. Finally, Advent International L.P. raised its position in shares of Ares Management by 9,353.6% during the 1st quarter. Advent International L.P. now owns 428,720 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $46,773,000 after buying an additional 424,185 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

About Ares Management

Ares Management Corporation is a global alternative investment manager that provides investment solutions across credit, private equity, real assets and secondaries. The company manages capital for institutional investors, financial intermediaries and individual investors through a range of private funds, public-market strategies and other investment vehicles.

Its investment activities include direct lending and other forms of private credit, corporate and growth-oriented private equity, real estate and infrastructure investments, and secondary-market transactions involving private investment interests.