Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) Sets New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Ares Management Co. (NYSE:ARES)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $176.31 and last traded at $175.68, with a volume of 507030 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $171.89.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on ARES shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Ares Management from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Ares Management from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Ares Management from $172.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $155.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $166.36.

Ares Management Price Performance

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’s fifty day simple moving average is $163.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $149.13. The firm has a market cap of $54.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 80.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.20.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.01. Ares Management had a return on equity of 19.89% and a net margin of 12.51%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $833.58 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.83 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Ares Management Co. will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a $0.93 dividend. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. Ares Management’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 171.43%.

Insider Activity at Ares Management

In related news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 18,232 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.54, for a total value of $3,200,445.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 116,201 shares in the company, valued at $20,397,923.54. This trade represents a 13.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ryan Berry sold 57,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.74, for a total transaction of $8,092,550.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 456,702 shares in the company, valued at $64,276,239.48. This trade represents a 11.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 651,628 shares of company stock valued at $102,226,989 over the last 90 days. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ARES. Curated Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 199.7% in the second quarter. Curated Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,658,217 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $221,007,000 after purchasing an additional 3,321,434 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Management in the 1st quarter valued at about $264,729,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Ares Management by 58.5% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,058,394 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $674,183,000 after acquiring an additional 1,867,933 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Management during the second quarter worth approximately $209,884,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 722.6% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,738,148 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $231,660,000 after purchasing an additional 1,526,856 shares during the period. 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.