Wells Fargo & Company Lowers Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) Price Target to $187.00

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) had its price target cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $215.00 to $187.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on ARES. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Management has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $173.83.

Ares Management Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ARES opened at $147.19 on Thursday. Ares Management has a one year low of $125.23 and a one year high of $200.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The company’s fifty day moving average is $175.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $169.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.51, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 11.35%. Analysts forecast that Ares Management will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Management Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $1.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $4.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.04%. This is an increase from Ares Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio is currently 183.25%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Ashish Bhutani bought 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $141.33 per share, for a total transaction of $1,413,300.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 22,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,237,163.65. This trade represents a 77.49 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 78,933 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the insider now owns 1,150,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $218,523,000. The trade was a 6.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 218,268 shares of company stock valued at $37,431,786 in the last 90 days. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ares Management

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ARES. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 31.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,849,737 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $444,103,000 after purchasing an additional 678,549 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 65,417 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $10,195,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 6,767 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,055,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 39,601 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,172,000 after acquiring an additional 4,734 shares during the period. Finally, Pathstone Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 137.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 11,987 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,868,000 after acquiring an additional 6,930 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.