Carnegie Investment Counsel Raises Holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Carnegie Investment Counsel increased its stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 309,022 shares of the investment management company's stock after purchasing an additional 16,857 shares during the quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel's holdings in Ares Capital were worth $6,764,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ARCC. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 975,045 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC increased its position in Ares Capital by 1.7% in the third 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 increased its position in Ares Capital by 2,104.7% in the third 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Ares Capital by 3.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,387,097 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $70,926,000 after purchasing an additional 104,710 shares during the period. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its position in 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 worth $46,430,000 after purchasing an additional 79,074 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ARCC traded up $0.18 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $23.18. 3,892,502 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,590,648. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $21.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.29. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $19.32 and a 12-month high of $23.22. The stock has a market cap of $14.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.92 and a beta of 1.00.

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 the consensus estimate 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 business's quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.28%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.