BMO Capital Markets Begins Coverage on Ares Management (NYSE:ARES)

BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) in a report issued on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage set a “market perform” rating and a $156.00 price target on the asset manager’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ target price suggests a potential upside of 2.42% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on ARES. Raymond James Financial began coverage on Ares Management in a research note on Monday, July 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Ares Management from $193.00 to $203.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $215.00 price target on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Ares Management from $189.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Ares Management from $182.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $180.81.

Ares Management Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NYSE ARES opened at $152.31 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $49.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.04, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.43. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $179.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $167.36. Ares Management has a 52 week low of $110.63 and a 52 week high of $200.49. 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 (NYSE:ARES) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. Ares Management had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 15.81%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.99 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Ares Management will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other news, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 128,837 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.30, for a total value of $22,971,637.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders sold 2,590,000 shares of company stock valued at $464,430,639 over the last three months. 36.86% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ares Management

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 9.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,936,367 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,626,179,000 after acquiring an additional 1,746,376 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 0.4% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,308,330 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,218,084,000 after acquiring an additional 30,451 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 7.6% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,454,083 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $596,280,000 after acquiring an additional 244,286 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 4.8% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,354,032 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $491,735,000 after acquiring an additional 152,169 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 0.3% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 1,902,603 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $278,941,000 after acquiring an additional 5,424 shares during the period. 50.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.