Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) Price Target Cut to $166.00 by Analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) had its target price reduced by equities researchers at The Goldman Sachs Group from $188.00 to $166.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the asset manager’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 22.11% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $166.00 to $202.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Ares Management from $224.00 to $217.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Ares Management from $215.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.33.

Ares Management Price Performance

ARES traded down $18.56 on Thursday, reaching $135.94. The company had a trading volume of 1,642,185 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,494,668. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. Ares Management has a 52-week low of $125.23 and a 52-week high of $200.49. The company has a market cap of $42.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $169.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $170.58.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 11.35%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ares Management will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In other news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 110,845 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.17, for a total value of $16,978,128.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,400,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $214,438,000. This trade represents a 7.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Ashish Bhutani purchased 10,000 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $141.33 per share, for a total transaction of $1,413,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly 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 disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 329,113 shares of company stock worth $54,409,915. 41.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Ares Management during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $381,365,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Ares Management during the fourth quarter valued at $335,858,000. TD Asset Management Inc. boosted 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 valued at $230,981,000 after buying an additional 1,276,743 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ares Management by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,807,718 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,329,530,000 after buying an additional 907,757 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Ares Management by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,109,070 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,258,519,000 after acquiring an additional 807,361 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.03% of the company’s stock.

Ares Management Company Profile

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.