Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) Cut to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Wednesday.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on ARES. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded 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 upgraded Ares Management from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $176.00 to $212.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Ares Management from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Ares Management from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $172.33.

Ares Management Price Performance

Shares of ARES opened at $182.21 on Wednesday. Ares Management has a one year low of $112.83 and a one year high of $185.06. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $174.96 and its 200-day moving average is $158.03. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $57.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.18.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $833.58 million. Ares Management had a net margin of 12.51% and a return on equity of 19.89%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.83 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Ares Management will post 4.06 EPS for the current year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $3.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.04%. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 171.43%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 15,825 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 214,079 shares in the company, valued at $35,802,571.96. This represents a 6.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ryan Berry sold 18,329 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.18, for a total transaction of $3,210,874.22. Following the sale, the insider now owns 254,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,650,754.30. This represents a 6.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 614,167 shares of company stock worth $106,716,247. Corporate insiders own 41.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,244,179 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,284,773,000 after buying an additional 679,462 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Ares Management by 1.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,301,709 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $982,058,000 after acquiring an additional 63,851 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Ares Management by 58.5% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,058,394 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $674,183,000 after acquiring an additional 1,867,933 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Ares Management by 5.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,826,479 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $596,318,000 after acquiring an additional 187,184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ares Management by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,678,177 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $600,830,000 after purchasing an additional 18,773 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.