Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Acquired by Clearbridge Investments LLC

Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 50.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 876,991 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 292,240 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned 0.16% of Ares Capital worth $16,027,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in Ares Capital by 174.6% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,535,836 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $83,777,000 after purchasing an additional 2,883,828 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Ares Capital by 160.0% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,117,111 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $23,403,000 after acquiring an additional 687,496 shares during the period. Ares Management LLC raised its position in Ares Capital by 35.7% in the first quarter. Ares Management LLC now owns 2,361,573 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $49,475,000 after acquiring an additional 621,814 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,303,081 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $115,188,000 after purchasing an additional 571,583 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 23.1% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,902,362 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $34,766,000 after purchasing an additional 357,500 shares during the period. 29.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on ARCC shares. TheStreet upgraded shares of Ares Capital from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 25th. B. Riley upped their price target on Ares Capital from $20.50 to $21.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. StockNews.com started coverage on Ares Capital in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Ares Capital from $20.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.00.

Ares Capital Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of Ares Capital stock opened at $19.37 on Wednesday. Ares Capital Co. has a twelve month low of $16.53 and a twelve month high of $20.33. The stock has a market cap of $10.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.74 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $19.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.77.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 25th. The investment management company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.01. Ares Capital had a net margin of 36.52% and a return on equity of 12.47%. The company had revenue of $634.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $623.26 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 15th will be given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 14th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.91%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is currently 116.36%.

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.