XTX Topco Ltd Raises Stock Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

XTX Topco Ltd lifted its position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 332.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 118,965 shares of the investment management company's stock after buying an additional 91,481 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd's holdings in Ares Capital were worth $2,604,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ARCC. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 10.6% during the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 11,291 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $236,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 10.9% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 73,741 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $1,544,000 after acquiring an additional 7,236 shares during the period. Sculati Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 1.0% in the third quarter. Sculati Wealth Management LLC now owns 115,744 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $2,410,000 after acquiring an additional 1,149 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ares Capital by 9.6% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 178,153 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $3,923,000 after purchasing an additional 15,650 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the 3rd quarter valued at about $252,000. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ARCC. Raymond James downgraded shares of Ares Capital from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group lowered their target price on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ares Capital has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $22.61.

Ares Capital Price Performance

ARCC traded up $0.36 on Thursday, hitting $20.45. 2,823,365 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,029,337. Ares Capital Co. has a one year low of $18.26 and a one year high of $23.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market cap of $14.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.35 and a beta of 0.77. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $21.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.95.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.39%. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 78.37%.

Ares Capital Company Profile

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.