Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) Upgraded to Outperform at Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Free Report) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has $159.00 price target on the asset manager's stock.

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

Ares Management Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of Ares Management stock traded up $1.75 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $141.35. The stock had a trading volume of 1,209,962 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,383,772. The firm has a market cap of $44.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $152.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $168.34. Ares Management has a 12-month low of $110.63 and a 12-month high of $200.49.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 16.64%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ares Management will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This is a boost from Ares Management's previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.17%. Ares Management's dividend payout ratio is 183.25%.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.02, for a total transaction of $14,998,848.66. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,150,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $218,523,000. This represents a 6.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Ashish Bhutani bought 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $141.33 per share, with a total value of $1,413,300.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 22,905 shares in the company, valued at $3,237,163.65. The trade was a 77.49 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 329,113 shares of company stock worth $54,409,915 over the last 90 days. Company 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 company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Management in the fourth quarter valued at $381,365,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ares Management during the 4th quarter valued at about $335,858,000. TD Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 4,557.2% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,304,759 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $230,981,000 after acquiring an additional 1,276,743 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 907,757 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its holdings in Ares Management by 12.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,109,070 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,258,519,000 after purchasing an additional 807,361 shares during the period. 50.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.