Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) Releases Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.12 EPS

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The asset manager reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.12), Zacks reports. Ares Management had a return on equity of 19.89% and a net margin of 12.51%.

Ares Management Stock Performance

Shares of ARES traded down $5.51 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $189.85. The stock had a trading volume of 985,438 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,010,157. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $182.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $164.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ares Management has a fifty-two week low of $124.11 and a fifty-two week high of $200.49. The company has a market cap of $59.43 billion, a PE ratio of 87.30, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.18.

Insider Transactions at Ares Management

In other news, Chairman Bennett Rosenthal sold 20,048 shares of Ares Management stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.44, for a total transaction of $3,356,837.12. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 229,952 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,503,162.88. This trade represents a 8.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider R. Kipp Deveer sold 115,838 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.83, for a total transaction of $20,599,471.54. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,259,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $223,916,778.46. This trade represents a 8.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 555,838 shares of company stock worth $96,785,773. 41.89% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on ARES. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Management from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $224.00 price objective on shares of Ares Management in a report on Monday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Ares Management from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $166.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, November 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $176.08.

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.