Capital Advisors Inc. OK Boosts Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Capital Advisors Inc. OK increased its stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,481,732 shares of the investment management company's stock after buying an additional 41,016 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Inc. OK owned 0.23% of Ares Capital worth $32,435,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARCC. Brookstone Capital Management purchased a new position in Ares Capital in the 3rd quarter worth about $266,000. Fiduciary Alliance LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital during the 3rd quarter worth about $378,000. Grove Bank & Trust grew its holdings in Ares Capital by 565.0% during the 3rd quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 5,400 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $113,000 after acquiring an additional 4,588 shares in the last quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Ares Capital by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 63,609 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $1,332,000 after acquiring an additional 767 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Ares Capital by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 30,749 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $644,000 after acquiring an additional 2,184 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

ARCC stock traded up $0.19 during trading on Friday, reaching $23.27. The company had a trading volume of 3,785,709 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,598,560. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.60. The company has a market cap of $15.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.50 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.21. Ares Capital Co. has a twelve month low of $19.32 and a twelve month high of $23.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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, sell-side analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.25%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 78.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on ARCC. StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Capital from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James cut shares of Ares Capital from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $22.94.

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.