Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) Upgraded at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note published on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $212.00 price objective on the asset manager’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $176.00.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on ARES. Barclays boosted their price target on Ares Management from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $169.64.

Ares Management Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Ares Management stock opened at $182.45 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $57.12 billion, a PE ratio of 84.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.19. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $170.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $152.69. Ares Management has a 1 year low of $112.83 and a 1 year high of $185.06. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.01. Ares Management had a return on equity of 19.89% and a net margin of 12.51%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $833.58 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.83 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Ares Management will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 171.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 115,838 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.83, for a total value of $20,599,471.54. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,259,162 shares in the company, valued at approximately $223,916,778.46. This represents a 8.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ryan Berry sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.42, for a total value of $1,855,250.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 414,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,475,860.84. This represents a 2.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 659,167 shares of company stock worth $113,702,897. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ares Management

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ARES. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Ares Management by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 2,122 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $331,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Copley Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the 3rd quarter worth $487,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ares Management by 0.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,678,177 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $600,830,000 after purchasing an additional 18,773 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in Ares Management by 9.3% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 12,798 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,994,000 after buying an additional 1,091 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Ares Management by 53.8% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 10,620 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,655,000 after buying an additional 3,715 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

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.