Ares Management price target raised to $195 from $185 at Citizens JMP

Citizens JMP analyst Brian McKenna raised the firm’s price target on Ares Management (ARES) to $195 from $185 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. The firm is bullish on the business outlook across Financial Services and FinTech, with capital markets recovering solidly with M&A activity still on a “normalization” tracking up 20% over the first half of last year and is annualizing $4.3T, while the IPO market is also restarting after a more than three-year hiatus with the number of U.S. IPOs up 80% year over year, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Key trends around areas like fundraising, capital deployment, and investment performance remain healthy, but the second half of 2025 is set to be one of the more active periods for the industry since the prior upcycle in 2H20 and 2021, the firm says.