Bank of America Cuts Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) Price Target to $201.00

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) had its target price trimmed by Bank of America from $221.00 to $201.00 in a report issued on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Ares Management from $215.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $188.00 to $166.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $176.38.

Ares Management Stock Down 10.0 %

Shares of NYSE ARES opened at $117.54 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $166.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $170.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. Ares Management has a 52-week low of $113.24 and a 52-week high of $200.49. The stock has a market cap of $37.07 billion, a PE ratio of 57.90, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 16.64%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ares Management will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a $1.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.81%. This is an increase from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is 183.25%.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In related news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 110,845 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.17, for a total transaction of $16,978,128.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,400,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $214,438,000. The trade was a 7.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Ashish Bhutani purchased 10,000 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $141.33 per share, for a total transaction of $1,413,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 22,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,237,163.65. This represents a 77.49 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 329,113 shares of company stock worth $54,409,915 in the last three months. Insiders own 41.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARES. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ares Management by 31.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,849,737 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $444,103,000 after purchasing an additional 678,549 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Ares Management by 0.7% in the third quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 11,538 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,798,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 3.7% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 7,064 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,101,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the third quarter worth $460,000. Finally, Investment Management Corp of Ontario raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 51.8% during the third quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 6,151 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $959,000 after acquiring an additional 2,100 shares during the period. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.