Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Upgrades Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) to Outperform

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) was upgraded by analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Finviz reports. The firm currently has a $202.00 price target on the asset manager’s stock, up from their previous price target of $166.00. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 18.07% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on ARES. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ares Management from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays boosted their target price on Ares Management from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Ares Management from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $176.00 to $212.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Management presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $172.33.

Ares Management Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of Ares Management stock opened at $171.08 on Friday. Ares Management has a twelve month low of $112.83 and a twelve month high of $185.06. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $171.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $153.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.56 billion, a PE ratio of 78.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.19.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $833.58 million. Ares Management had a return on equity of 19.89% and a net margin of 12.51%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.83 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ares Management will post 4.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ares Management news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 15,825 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.24, for a total transaction of $2,646,573.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 214,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,802,571.96. This trade represents a 6.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Ryan Berry sold 14,357 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.16, for a total transaction of $2,586,557.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 634,167 shares of company stock worth $109,917,647 over the last 90 days. 1.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Management

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Ares Management by 58.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,867,933 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Management in the second quarter valued at $209,884,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 722.6% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,738,148 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $231,660,000 after buying an additional 1,526,856 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ares Management by 31.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,849,737 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $444,103,000 after buying an additional 678,549 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Ares Management by 24.4% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,316,584 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $308,754,000 after acquiring an additional 453,657 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.