Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) Stock Rating Upgraded by JMP Securities

JMP Securities upgraded shares of Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) from a market perform rating to a market outperform rating in a research report report published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have $165.00 target price on the asset manager's stock.

ARES has been the topic of a number of other reports. Barclays decreased their target price on Ares Management from $217.00 to $142.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Management from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Ares Management from $221.00 to $201.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Ares Management from $188.00 to $166.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Ares Management from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $165.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $166.07.

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Ares Management Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ARES traded up $2.12 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $137.89. 3,184,457 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,372,277. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $157.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $168.97. The company has a market cap of $43.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. Ares Management has a 52 week low of $110.63 and a 52 week high of $200.49.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 11.35%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ares Management will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a dividend of $1.12 per share. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. This is an increase from Ares Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Ares Management's dividend payout ratio is 183.25%.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 110,845 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.17, for a total transaction of $16,978,128.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,400,000 shares in the company, valued at $214,438,000. This represents a 7.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.02, for a total value of $14,998,848.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,150,000 shares in the company, valued at $218,523,000. The trade was a 6.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 329,113 shares of company stock valued at $54,409,915. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Ares Management

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Ares Management in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $381,365,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the 4th quarter valued at about $335,858,000. TD Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Ares Management by 4,557.2% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,304,759 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $230,981,000 after acquiring an additional 1,276,743 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Ares Management by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,807,718 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $3,329,530,000 after purchasing an additional 907,757 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in Ares Management by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,109,070 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,258,519,000 after purchasing an additional 807,361 shares during the period. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.