12,941 Shares in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Bought by FineMark National Bank & Trust

FineMark National Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 12,941 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $283,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $84,426,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at $58,159,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $309,649,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489,552 shares during the last quarter. CCLA Investment Management raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 31.6% during the 4th quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 2,211,955 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $48,419,000 after purchasing an additional 531,305 shares during the period. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 48.6% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,400,539 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $30,658,000 after buying an additional 458,360 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on ARCC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James cut shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded 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 issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.94.

Ares Capital Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Ares Capital stock opened at $22.23 on Thursday. Ares Capital Co. has a 12-month low of $19.32 and a 12-month high of $23.84. The company has a market cap of $15.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.07 and a beta of 1.00. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $22.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.95.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. On average, equities analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.64%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 78.37%.

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.