PDS Planning Inc Makes New Investment in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

PDS Planning Inc bought a new position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 13,103 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $287,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ARCC. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Ares Capital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $58,159,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings 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 worth $309,649,000 after buying an additional 1,489,552 shares during the last quarter. CCLA Investment Management increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 531,305 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 48.6% during 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. Finally, Columbus Macro LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,870,000. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.8 %

Ares Capital stock opened at $21.82 on Wednesday. Ares Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $19.32 and a fifty-two week high of $23.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.21. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $22.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.92. The company has a market capitalization of $14.87 billion, a PE ratio of 8.91 and a beta of 1.00.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its quarterly 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 net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. Research analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.80%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.94.

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.