Sfmg LLC Acquires 10,080 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Sfmg LLC increased its holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 398,112 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,080 shares during the period. Ares Capital comprises 0.7% of Sfmg LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Sfmg LLC owned 0.07% of Ares Capital worth $7,974,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Ares Capital by 10.5% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 7,441,256 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $144,881,000 after buying an additional 708,568 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Ares Capital by 1,865.8% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,214,991 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $844,260,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000,570 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in Ares Capital by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,880,360 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $70,818,000 after acquiring an additional 271,811 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,806,105 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $70,280,000 after purchasing an additional 224,553 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its position in Ares Capital by 0.5% during the first quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,116,400 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $56,952,000 after purchasing an additional 14,600 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ARCC. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. B. Riley downgraded Ares Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ares Capital has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.80.

Ares Capital Price Performance

ARCC stock traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $20.29. 681,689 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,643,723. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $20.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.93. Ares Capital Co. has a 12 month low of $17.53 and a 12 month high of $20.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.58 and a beta of 1.00.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The investment management company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.03. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.50% and a net margin of 58.22%. The company had revenue of $707.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $669.78 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 EPS. Ares Capital’s quarterly revenue was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.91%.

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.