Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 5.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,651,750 shares of the investment management company's stock after selling 244,628 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.69% of Ares Capital worth $101,850,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ARCC. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at about $84,426,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth $58,159,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $309,649,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489,552 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Ares Capital by 26.0% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,268,547 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $93,439,000 after buying an additional 881,450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CCLA Investment Management raised its stake in Ares Capital by 31.6% in the fourth 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company's stock.
Ares Capital Price Performance
Ares Capital stock traded up $0.27 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $20.29. The company had a trading volume of 2,154,728 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,010,041. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21. Ares Capital Co. has a 12-month low of $18.26 and a 12-month high of $23.84. The company has a market capitalization of $13.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.28 and a beta of 0.77. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $22.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.98.
Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.
Ares Capital Announces Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.47%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 78.37%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
ARCC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Raymond James lowered Ares Capital from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Capital from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $22.81.
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About Ares Capital
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Free Report)
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.
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