Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) Increases Dividend to $1.12 Per Share

Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 6th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of 1.12 per share by the asset manager on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This is an increase from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93.

Ares Management has increased its dividend payment by an average of 25.5% annually over the last three years. Ares Management has a payout ratio of 67.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Ares Management to earn $5.56 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 80.6%.

Ares Management Price Performance

ARES opened at $190.36 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. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $183.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $165.35. The firm has a market cap of $59.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.72, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.18. Ares Management has a twelve month low of $125.23 and a twelve month high of $200.49.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 19.89% and a net margin of 12.51%. Equities research analysts expect that Ares Management will post 4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Ryan Berry sold 14,357 shares of the company’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 sale, the insider now directly owns 233,214 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,015,834.24. This represents a 5.80 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 15,825 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.24, for a total value of $2,646,573.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 214,079 shares in the company, valued at $35,802,571.96. The trade was a 6.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 555,838 shares of company stock valued at $96,785,773 over the last three months. 41.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on ARES. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Ares Management from $207.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Ares Management from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $158.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $176.17.

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.