BNP Paribas Financial Markets Grows Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 331.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 178,224 shares of the investment management company's stock after purchasing an additional 136,927 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets' holdings in Ares Capital were worth $3,732,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on ARCC. B. Riley boosted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised Ares Capital from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $23.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday. UBS Group raised Ares Capital to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Ares Capital from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $22.29.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ:ARCC traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $22.17. The company had a trading volume of 4,076,629 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,421,874. Ares Capital Co. has a 1 year low of $19.32 and a 1 year high of $22.30. The company has a market cap of $14.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.50 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50-day moving average of $21.47 and a 200 day moving average of $21.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

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

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.66%. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio is currently 73.85%.

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.