Franklin Resources Inc. Purchases 127,219 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 24.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 650,163 shares of the investment management company's stock after purchasing an additional 127,219 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.10% of Ares Capital worth $13,900,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 8.3% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 12,656,154 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $272,107,000 after buying an additional 975,045 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,836,573 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $80,338,000 after purchasing an additional 63,999 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 2,104.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,613,285 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $756,620,000 after purchasing an additional 3,449,395 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in Ares Capital by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 3,492,247 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $72,778,000 after purchasing an additional 273,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 3.7% in the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,217,277 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $46,430,000 after purchasing an additional 79,074 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ARCC. StockNews.com upgraded Ares Capital from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group raised shares of Ares Capital to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. B. Riley boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ares Capital from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $22.29.

Ares Capital Stock Up 1.2 %

ARCC traded up $0.25 during trading on Friday, reaching $21.38. 9,043,410 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,532,132. The stock has a market cap of $13.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.22 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $21.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.12. Ares Capital Co. has a twelve month low of $19.32 and a twelve month high of $22.43.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.45 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 53.71% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.98%. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio is currently 73.85%.

Ares Capital Company 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.