Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Raises Stock Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 324.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 31,179 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,835 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $650,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Ares Capital by 62.7% in the 2nd quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,233 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Asset Dedication LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 323.3% during the first quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 1,435 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pingora Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC opened at $20.17 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.91 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $20.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.77. Ares Capital Co. has a 52-week low of $18.55 and a 52-week high of $21.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The investment management company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $714.27 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.24% and a net margin of 59.76%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.58 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.52%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 65.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on ARCC shares. UBS Group raised shares of Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Monday, August 5th. Compass Point raised shares of Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, JMP Securities increased their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.71.

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.