Headlands Technologies LLC Invests $172,000 in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 8,607 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $172,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ARCC. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. increased its stake in Ares Capital by 411.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 1,952 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,570 shares in the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management increased its stake in Ares Capital by 137.2% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC increased its stake in Ares Capital by 59.3% during the 4th quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC now owns 2,351 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new position in Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.7 %

ARCC stock opened at $20.78 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $12.61 billion, a PE ratio of 7.78 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $20.36 and its 200 day moving average is $20.02. Ares Capital Co. has a one year low of $17.53 and a one year high of $20.86.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The investment management company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $707.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $669.78 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 58.22% and a return on equity of 12.50%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 71.91%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARCC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. B. Riley lowered shares of Ares Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.80.

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.