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

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 942,179 shares of the investment management company's stock after purchasing an additional 121,205 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC owned about 0.15% of Ares Capital worth $19,736,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 2,104.7% during 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 buying an additional 3,449,395 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 20.2% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 11,681,109 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $243,434,000 after buying an additional 1,961,166 shares in the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the 2nd quarter valued at $9,815,000. Partners Group Holding AG raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter. Partners Group Holding AG now owns 1,787,401 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $37,428,000 after buying an additional 312,255 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 3,492,247 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $72,778,000 after buying an additional 273,025 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.2 %

Ares Capital stock traded up $0.04 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $22.21. The stock had a trading volume of 4,153,203 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,636,703. The stock has a market cap of $14.35 billion, a PE ratio of 8.54 and a beta of 1.01. Ares Capital Co. has a 52 week low of $19.32 and a 52 week high of $22.30. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $21.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.10.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 53.71%. Ares Capital's revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.59 EPS. Analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.64%. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio is 73.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. B. Riley raised their price objective on shares of 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 raised shares of Ares Capital from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ares Capital from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $23.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Ares Capital to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $22.29.

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.