80,812 Shares in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Acquired by FORA Capital LLC

FORA Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 80,812 shares of the investment management company's stock, valued at approximately $1,692,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ARCC. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 6.3% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 54,206 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $1,129,000 after purchasing an additional 3,206 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the first quarter valued at approximately $272,000. Community Trust & Investment Co. boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 1.2% in the first quarter. Community Trust & Investment Co. now owns 152,115 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $3,167,000 after acquiring an additional 1,779 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 143.9% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 820,390 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $17,081,000 after acquiring an additional 484,088 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 54.8% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 378,052 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $7,871,000 after acquiring an additional 133,759 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Monday, August 5th. B. Riley increased their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com upgraded Ares Capital from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Ares Capital to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $21.86.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of Ares Capital stock traded up $0.01 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $22.01. 4,262,634 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,410,869. 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 firm has a market cap of $14.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.47 and a beta of 1.01. Ares Capital Co. has a 52 week low of $19.32 and a 52 week high of $22.15. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.05.

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

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given 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 yield of 8.72%. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.85%.

About Ares Capital

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.