Stephens Inc. AR Acquires 51,468 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Stephens Inc. AR raised its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 4.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,111,423 shares of the investment management company's stock after purchasing an additional 51,468 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR owned about 0.18% of Ares Capital worth $23,273,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Ares Capital by 20.2% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 11,681,109 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $243,434,000 after purchasing an additional 1,961,166 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 3,449,395 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 8.5% in the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 3,492,247 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $72,778,000 after acquiring an additional 273,025 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 7.8% during the first quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 3,099,134 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $64,524,000 after acquiring an additional 223,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its position in Ares Capital by 3.7% during the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,217,277 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $46,430,000 after purchasing an additional 79,074 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of ARCC traded down $0.14 on Friday, reaching $21.00. 3,433,449 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,367,322. The firm has a market cap of $13.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.08 and a beta of 1.01. Ares Capital Co. has a 12 month low of $19.24 and a 12 month high of $22.05. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $21.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $770.45 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 53.71% and a return on equity of 12.31%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.14%. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio is currently 73.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ARCC shares. Compass Point raised Ares Capital to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. B. Riley boosted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday. JMP Securities raised their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group upgraded Ares Capital to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $21.86.

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.