Cigna Investments Inc. New Boosts Stock Position in Ares Management Corporation $ARES

Cigna Investments Inc. New boosted its position in shares of Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES) by 3.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,890 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New’s holdings in Ares Management were worth $327,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of Ares Management by 129.6% in the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,988 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $291,000 after purchasing an additional 1,122 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ares Management by 40.7% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 7,960 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,167,000 after acquiring an additional 2,302 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its position in shares of Ares Management by 4.2% during the first quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 53,401 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,829,000 after acquiring an additional 2,171 shares during the period. TCW Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ares Management by 99.5% in the first quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 31,765 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,657,000 after acquiring an additional 15,846 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. purchased a new position in Ares Management in the first quarter valued at $667,000. 50.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Michael J. Arougheti sold 136,516 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.74, for a total transaction of $24,946,933.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 311,728 shares in the company, valued at $56,965,174.72. This represents a 30.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Antony P. Ressler sold 196,197 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.79, for a total transaction of $35,078,061.63. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 1,424,538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $254,693,149.02. The trade was a 12.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,590,000 shares of company stock worth $464,430,639. Corporate insiders own 36.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ARES has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Ares Management from $193.00 to $203.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Ares Management from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Raymond James Financial started coverage on shares of Ares Management in a report on Monday, July 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ares Management in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Cfra Research upgraded shares of Ares Management to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.73.

Ares Management Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ARES opened at $163.23 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $53.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 94.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.44. Ares Management Corporation has a twelve month low of $110.63 and a twelve month high of $200.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $182.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $166.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Ares Management (NYSE:ARES) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The asset manager reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by ($0.12). Ares Management had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 15.81%. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.99 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Ares Management Corporation will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Management Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be given a $1.12 dividend. This represents a $4.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. Ares Management’s payout ratio is 258.96%.

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.