Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC Buys 49,500 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 41.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 168,073 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 49,500 shares during the period. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $3,679,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Platform Technology Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 27,450 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $601,000 after acquiring an additional 867 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth about $421,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 938,635 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $20,547,000 after buying an additional 53,229 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,289,000. Finally, Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth approximately $215,000. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARCC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James cut Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com lowered Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.94.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of ARCC opened at $22.74 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $22.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.69 billion, a PE ratio of 8.75 and a beta of 1.01. Ares Capital Co. has a 1-year low of $19.32 and a 1-year high of $23.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 53.71%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.44%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is currently 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.