Wells Fargo Maintains Overweight Rating on Ares Management (ARES), Lifts PT

On Friday, May 23, Wells Fargo analyst Michael Brown reaffirmed an Overweight rating for Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES) due to continued confidence in the firm's performance and prospects and raised his price target from $182 to $189.

In Q1 2025 Ares Management made $1.04 billion in quarterly revenue, which was an improvement of 38.21% despite increased market volatility. While the market initially anticipated increased M&A activity at the start of 2025 due to new administration policies, market volatility disrupted this expectation, particularly following the announcement of April 2nd tariffs and subsequent geopolitical events.

This led to a drop in activity in liquid credit and equity markets as traditional capital providers adopted a risk-off position. Ares' business model allows it to avoid being a forced seller of assets due to its management fee-centric approach, low balance sheet leverage, and reliance on long-dated & locked-up third-party capital. Over 72% of Ares's total AUM is in credit-related products. Ares also achieved fundraising and deployment milestones and raised over $20 billion in gross new capital commitments. This marked the company's highest Q1 fundraising on record across all major strategies.

Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES) operates as an alternative asset manager in the US, Europe, and Asia. The company operates through several segments, which include the Tradable Credit Group, the Direct Lending Group, the Private Equity Group, and the Real Estate Group.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.