Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Invests $2.14 Million in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 97,805 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,141,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ARCC. Horizon Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 56.8% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,510 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 909 shares during the last quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 92.6% in the 4th quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 2,889 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 1,389 shares during the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 200.0% in the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 3,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $67,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ARCC shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Raymond James cut shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.94.

Ares Capital Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of ARCC stock opened at $23.30 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21. Ares Capital Co. has a 1 year low of $19.32 and a 1 year high of $23.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.51 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.24%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is currently 78.37%.

About Ares Capital

Ares Capital Corporation is a business development company specializing in acquisition, recapitalization, mezzanine debt, restructurings, rescue financing, and leveraged buyout transactions of middle market companies. It also makes growth capital and general refinancing. It prefers to make investments in companies engaged in the basic and growth manufacturing, business services, consumer products, health care products and services, and information technology service sectors.