Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) Price Target Cut to $158.00 by Analysts at TD Cowen

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) had its price objective lowered by TD Cowen from $168.00 to $158.00 in a research report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Ares Management from $153.00 to $150.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. JMP Securities reissued a market perform rating on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $156.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Ares Management from a buy rating to a hold rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $176.00 to $132.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of Ares Management in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $131.69.

Ares Management Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ARES opened at $141.10 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $43.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.27, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $138.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $132.01. Ares Management has a one year low of $96.00 and a one year high of $150.12.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The asset manager reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.93 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $707.36 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $814.88 million. Ares Management had a net margin of 12.86% and a return on equity of 21.22%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.71 EPS. Research analysts predict that Ares Management will post 4.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.64%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is presently 166.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider David B. Kaplan sold 125,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.94, for a total value of $16,492,500.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 157,837 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.22, for a total transaction of $23,394,600.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 92,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,660,399.86. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider David B. Kaplan sold 125,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.94, for a total transaction of $16,492,500.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 854,823 shares of company stock valued at $117,054,651 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 41.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ares Management

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARES. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ares Management by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,599,345 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,207,381,000 after purchasing an additional 206,996 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ares Management by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,872,559 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $460,525,000 after purchasing an additional 71,819 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the 1st quarter worth about $264,729,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the 4th quarter worth about $205,499,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Ares Management by 216.3% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,253,644 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $149,083,000 after purchasing an additional 857,245 shares during the period. 50.03% of the stock is currently 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.