Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Position Increased by Stifel Financial Corp

Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 6.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,333,402 shares of the investment management company's stock after purchasing an additional 146,319 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp owned approximately 0.35% of Ares Capital worth $51,078,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Montag & Caldwell LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new position in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth approximately $48,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at $60,000. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 92.6% during the fourth quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 2,889 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 1,389 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ares Capital Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of ARCC stock traded up $0.35 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $21.10. The company had a trading volume of 3,620,082 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,082,554. The company has a market capitalization of $14.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.61 and a beta of 0.77. Ares Capital Co. has a twelve month low of $18.26 and a twelve month high of $23.84. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $21.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.21.

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

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.10%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital's payout ratio is currently 78.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on ARCC shares. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Raymond James cut shares of Ares Capital from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ares Capital from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $22.33.

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.