Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) Price Target Cut to $201.00 by Analysts at Bank of America

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

ARES has been the topic of a number of other research reports. StockNews.com cut Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised 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. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $215.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Ares Management from $188.00 to $166.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.38.

Ares Management Stock Performance

Shares of ARES opened at $117.54 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ares Management has a 12 month low of $113.24 and a 12 month high of $200.49. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $166.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $170.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.07 billion, a price-to-earnings 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 data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share 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%. Research analysts forecast that Ares Management will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This is a boost from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.81%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 183.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ares Management news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 110,845 shares of the firm’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 value of $16,978,128.65. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,400,000 shares in the company, valued at $214,438,000. This trade represents a 7.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 69,809 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.01, for a total transaction of $11,239,947.09. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 30,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,861,052.91. The trade was a 69.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 329,113 shares of company stock valued at $54,409,915 over the last quarter. 41.89% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Management

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 31.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,849,737 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $444,103,000 after purchasing an additional 678,549 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Ares Management by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 11,538 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,798,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in Ares Management by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 7,064 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,101,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Management during the third quarter valued at $460,000. Finally, Investment Management Corp of Ontario lifted 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 purchasing an additional 2,100 shares during the period. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by 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.