Eagle Bay Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Eagle Bay Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 82.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 87,981 shares of the investment management company's stock after purchasing an additional 39,806 shares during the period. Ares Capital comprises approximately 1.2% of Eagle Bay Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC's holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,926,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 8.3% during 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 grew its holdings 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 worth $80,338,000 after acquiring an additional 63,999 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 3,449,395 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 3.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,387,097 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $70,926,000 after purchasing an additional 104,710 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on ARCC shares. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Ares Capital from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. B. Riley lifted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded 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 assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $22.29.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

NASDAQ ARCC traded up $0.12 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $22.10. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,858,456 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,147,002. Ares Capital Co. has a 12 month low of $19.32 and a 12 month high of $22.43. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $21.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company has a market cap of $14.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.50 and a beta of 1.00.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $770.45 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.69%. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.