Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) Given New $176.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) had its price target increased by Wells Fargo & Company from $172.00 to $176.00 in a report published on Monday, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Ares Management from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. UBS Group upped 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Ares Management from $136.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Ares Management from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $166.00.

Ares Management Stock Performance

Shares of ARES stock opened at $172.49 on Monday. Ares Management has a 12-month low of $101.44 and a 12-month high of $175.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $157.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $146.19.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $833.58 million. Ares Management had a return on equity of 20.51% and a net margin of 12.51%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.83 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ares Management will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.16%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 171.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 27,172 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.67, for a total transaction of $3,958,145.24. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 222,828 shares in the company, valued at $32,459,354.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider David B. Kaplan sold 27,068 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.67, for a total value of $3,942,995.56. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 222,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,474,504.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 27,172 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.67, for a total value of $3,958,145.24. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 222,828 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,459,354.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 622,640 shares of company stock valued at $91,378,848. 41.89% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ares Management

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ARES. EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Ares Management by 32.5% in the 1st quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 20,345 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,705,000 after buying an additional 4,996 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 24.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 192,634 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,674,000 after acquiring an additional 38,047 shares in the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden increased its stake in shares of Ares Management by 20.4% in the first quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 39,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,186,000 after acquiring an additional 6,600 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 9,510.9% during the first quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 5,286 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $703,000 after acquiring an additional 5,231 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in Ares Management during the first quarter valued at $968,000. 50.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.