Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Stake Boosted by Sandy Spring Bank

Sandy Spring Bank increased its stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 208.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,244 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,192 shares during the period. Sandy Spring Bank’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $65,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in Ares Capital by 100.8% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,426 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 181,426 shares during the last quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC acquired a new position in Ares Capital during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. grew its position in Ares Capital by 411.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 1,952 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,570 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Activest Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 137.2% in the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 2,142 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 1,239 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ARCC shares. B. Riley lowered Ares Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.80.

Ares Capital Trading Down 1.2 %

Ares Capital stock opened at $20.28 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $12.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.60 and a beta of 1.00. Ares Capital Co. has a 1 year low of $17.53 and a 1 year high of $20.86. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $20.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The investment management company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.03. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.50% and a net margin of 58.22%. The business had revenue of $707.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $669.78 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.68 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.91%.

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.