Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Purchased by Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 64.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 686,316 shares of the investment management company's stock after purchasing an additional 269,680 shares during the quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC owned 0.11% of Ares Capital worth $15,023,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $309,649,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489,552 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC grew its position in Ares Capital by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,836,573 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $80,338,000 after acquiring an additional 63,999 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Ares Capital by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,387,097 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $70,926,000 after acquiring an additional 104,710 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in Ares Capital by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,314,269 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $50,659,000 after acquiring an additional 96,992 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CCLA Investment Management grew its position in Ares Capital by 31.6% in the 4th quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 2,211,955 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $48,419,000 after acquiring an additional 531,305 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on ARCC shares. StockNews.com downgraded Ares Capital from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Raymond James downgraded Ares Capital from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $22.94.

Ares Capital Stock Up 3.0 %

Ares Capital stock traded up $0.68 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $23.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,094,902 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,367,133. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $22.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21. Ares Capital Co. has a 52-week low of $19.32 and a 52-week high of $23.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.39 and a beta of 1.00.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital's payout ratio is 78.37%.

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.