Cottage Street Advisors LLC Buys 837 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Cottage Street Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 187,095 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 837 shares during the period. Ares Capital comprises 2.1% of Cottage Street Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Cottage Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $4,096,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new stake in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at about $84,426,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at $58,159,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 11.8% during the fourth 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 period. CCLA Investment Management boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 31.6% in the 4th quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 2,211,955 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $48,419,000 after purchasing an additional 531,305 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 48.6% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,400,539 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $30,658,000 after purchasing an additional 458,360 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ares Capital Stock Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $22.31 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $15.21 billion, a PE ratio of 9.11 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.21. Ares Capital Co. has a 52-week low of $19.32 and a 52-week high of $23.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.61%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is 78.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.