31,500 Shares in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Bought by Erste Asset Management GmbH

Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 31,500 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $651,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ARCC. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 2,104.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,613,285 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $756,620,000 after buying an additional 3,449,395 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 20.2% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 11,681,109 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $243,434,000 after buying an additional 1,961,166 shares during the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital during the 2nd quarter valued at $9,815,000. Partners Group Holding AG grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 21.2% in the 3rd quarter. Partners Group Holding AG now owns 1,787,401 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $37,428,000 after buying an additional 312,255 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Curated Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Ares Capital by 206.7% during the 2nd quarter. Curated Wealth Partners LLC now owns 153,208 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,193,000 after purchasing an additional 296,861 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on ARCC. B. Riley boosted their target price on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Ares Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $23.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ares Capital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.29.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $22.18 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.53 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.08. Ares Capital Co. has a one year low of $19.32 and a one year high of $22.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 53.71%. The firm had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $770.45 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.59 earnings per share. Ares Capital’s revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.66%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.85%.

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.