Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Takes Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 14,544 shares of the investment management company's stock, valued at approximately $314,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at $58,159,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $309,649,000 after buying an additional 1,489,552 shares during the last quarter. CCLA Investment Management grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 31.6% during 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 buying an additional 531,305 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 48.6% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,400,539 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $30,658,000 after acquiring an additional 458,360 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Columbus Macro LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth about $8,870,000. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARCC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James cut Ares Capital from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $22.81.

Ares Capital Price Performance

ARCC traded down $0.40 on Tuesday, reaching $18.91. The company had a trading volume of 11,038,100 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,917,729. The company has a market capitalization of $12.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.72 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The company has a fifty day moving average of $22.38 and a 200-day moving average of $21.99. Ares Capital Co. has a one year low of $18.60 and a one year high of $23.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.15%. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 78.37%.

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.