Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) Shares Gap Down to $137.49

Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $137.49, but opened at $132.43. Ares Management shares last traded at $132.55, with a volume of 635,376 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Ares Management from $131.00 to $127.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Ares Management from $153.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Ares Management from $156.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of Ares Management in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ares Management currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $130.29.

Ares Management Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $137.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $128.73. The company has a market cap of $40.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The asset manager reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.93 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $707.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $814.88 million. Ares Management had a return on equity of 21.22% and a net margin of 12.86%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.71 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ares Management Co. will post 4.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.93 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.84%. Ares Management’s payout ratio is presently 166.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 22,196 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.84, for a total transaction of $2,904,124.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 113,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,864,994.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 22,196 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.84, for a total value of $2,904,124.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 113,612 shares in the company, valued at $14,864,994.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 19,749 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.92, for a total value of $2,625,037.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 76,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,154,423.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,642,676 shares of company stock valued at $222,331,446. 41.89% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ares Management

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ares Management by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,599,345 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,207,381,000 after acquiring an additional 206,996 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Ares Management by 27.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,836,590 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $600,410,000 after acquiring an additional 1,255,866 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Ares Management by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,872,559 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $460,525,000 after acquiring an additional 71,819 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,644,429 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $272,033,000 after purchasing an additional 78,781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the 1st quarter worth approximately $264,729,000. Institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

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.