M&T Bank Corp Acquires Shares of 10,134 Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

M&T Bank Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 10,134 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in ARCC. Atria Investments Inc lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 8.2% during the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 51,256 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,073,000 after purchasing an additional 3,868 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 4.6% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 885,406 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $18,540,000 after purchasing an additional 38,559 shares in the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 6.2% during the third quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 11,218 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $235,000 after purchasing an additional 650 shares in the last quarter. Muzinich & Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 4.5% during the third quarter. Muzinich & Co. Inc. now owns 898,617 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $18,817,000 after purchasing an additional 38,559 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sage Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 4.5% during the third quarter. Sage Advisors LLC now owns 910,625 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $19,068,000 after purchasing an additional 39,017 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARCC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.94.

Ares Capital Price Performance

ARCC opened at $21.28 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.69 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $22.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.90. Ares Capital Co. has a twelve month low of $19.32 and a twelve month high of $23.84.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. Equities analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.02%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 78.37%.

Ares Capital 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.