Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) Earns “Outperform” Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada restated their outperform rating on shares of Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) in a research note released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $150.00 price objective on the asset manager’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Barclays dropped their price objective on Ares Management from $153.00 to $150.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Ares Management from $131.00 to $127.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. JMP Securities reiterated a market perform rating on shares of Ares Management in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Ares Management from $119.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on Ares Management in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. They set a buy rating and a $154.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $130.15.

Ares Management Trading Up 0.9 %

ARES stock opened at $146.01 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $45.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.48, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.17. Ares Management has a 1-year low of $82.89 and a 1-year high of $150.12. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $136.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $125.70.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The asset manager reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.93 by ($0.13). Ares Management had a net margin of 12.86% and a return on equity of 21.22%. The company had revenue of $707.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $814.88 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Ares Management will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Announces Dividend

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 paid a dividend of $0.93 per share. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 166.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ares Management news, insider David B. Kaplan sold 39,088 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.47, for a total value of $5,177,987.36. Following the sale, the insider now owns 210,912 shares in the company, valued at $27,939,512.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Ares Management news, insider David B. Kaplan sold 39,088 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.47, for a total value of $5,177,987.36. Following the sale, the insider now owns 210,912 shares in the company, valued at $27,939,512.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider David B. Kaplan sold 22,115 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.84, for a total value of $2,893,526.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 188,797 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,702,199.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,488,844 shares of company stock valued at $200,239,222. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ares Management

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ARES. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the 1st quarter valued at $264,729,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the 4th quarter valued at $205,499,000. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,255,866 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the 3rd quarter valued at $93,682,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $149,083,000 after buying an additional 857,245 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

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.