Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) Downgraded to “Sell” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Ares Management from $136.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Ares Management from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Ares Management from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $176.00 to $212.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Management currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $172.33.

Ares Management Stock Performance

NYSE ARES opened at $175.24 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $54.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.76, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ares Management has a twelve month low of $112.83 and a twelve month high of $185.06. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $175.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $158.49.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 19.89% and a net margin of 12.51%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.83 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Ares Management will post 4.06 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 171.43%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ryan Berry sold 14,357 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.16, for a total value of $2,586,557.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 233,214 shares in the company, valued at $42,015,834.24. This represents a 5.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 115,838 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.83, for a total transaction of $20,599,471.54. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,259,162 shares in the company, valued at approximately $223,916,778.46. This trade represents a 8.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 614,167 shares of company stock worth $106,716,247 over the last 90 days. 41.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Management

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ARES. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Ares Management by 9.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,244,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,284,773,000 after buying an additional 679,462 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Ares Management by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,301,709 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $982,058,000 after purchasing an additional 63,851 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 58.5% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,058,394 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $674,183,000 after purchasing an additional 1,867,933 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Ares Management by 5.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,826,479 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $596,318,000 after purchasing an additional 187,184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Ares Management by 0.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,678,177 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $600,830,000 after purchasing an additional 18,773 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.