XTX Topco Ltd Takes $576,000 Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 27,484 shares of the investment management company's stock, valued at approximately $576,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ARCC. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital during the second quarter valued at $213,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 279,841 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $5,832,000 after acquiring an additional 3,074 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its stake in Ares Capital by 11.1% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 13,318 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $278,000 after buying an additional 1,328 shares during the period. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Ares Capital by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC now owns 15,454 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $322,000 after buying an additional 996 shares during the period. Finally, TCW Group Inc. increased its stake in Ares Capital by 13.2% in the 2nd quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 664,433 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $13,847,000 after buying an additional 77,450 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on ARCC. B. Riley raised their target price 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 upgraded shares of Ares Capital from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Ares Capital from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Ares Capital to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $22.29.

Ares Capital Trading Down 1.8 %

NASDAQ ARCC traded down $0.39 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $21.69. The company had a trading volume of 4,544,793 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,459,505. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $21.63 and a 200 day moving average of $21.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. Ares Capital Co. has a 1-year low of $19.32 and a 1-year high of $22.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.32 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $770.45 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 53.71% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.85%.

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.