Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Acquired by IPG Investment Advisors LLC

IPG Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 10.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 13,829 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares during the quarter. IPG Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $303,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $309,649,000 after acquiring an additional 1,489,552 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Ares Capital by 26.0% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,268,547 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $93,439,000 after purchasing an additional 881,450 shares during the period. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new stake in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at $84,426,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Ares Capital during the 4th quarter worth about $58,159,000. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,314,269 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $50,659,000 after buying an additional 96,992 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on ARCC. Raymond James lowered Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.94.

Ares Capital Stock Down 1.1 %

ARCC stock opened at $22.11 on Friday. Ares Capital Co. has a 52 week low of $19.32 and a 52 week high of $23.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.02 and a beta of 1.00.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. Equities analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.68%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 78.37%.

Ares Capital Profile

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.