Wells Fargo & Company Upgrades Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) to “Overweight”

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has a $212.00 price target on the asset manager’s stock, up from their previous price target of $176.00. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target points to a potential upside of 16.23% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on ARES. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on Ares Management in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $140.00 target price for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Ares Management from $136.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Management from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $169.64.

Ares Management Stock Performance

NYSE ARES opened at $182.39 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $169.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $152.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 85.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ares Management has a 1 year low of $112.83 and a 1 year high of $185.06.

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

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In other Ares Management news, insider Ryan Berry sold 1,671 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $292,425.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 253,214 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,312,450. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 20,096 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.44, for a total value of $3,364,874.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 229,904 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,495,125.76. This represents a 8.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 659,167 shares of company stock valued at $113,702,897 in the last quarter. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ARES. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Ares Management by 1.0% during the 3rd 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 raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,867,933 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Ares Management by 5.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,826,479 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $596,318,000 after purchasing an additional 187,184 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Ares Management by 0.5% during the third 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. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Ares Management by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,950,451 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $459,580,000 after purchasing an additional 175,627 shares in the last quarter. 50.03% of the stock is owned by 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.