Choreo LLC Makes New Investment in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Choreo LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 19,596 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $406,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ARCC. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the first quarter valued at $86,227,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 20.2% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 11,681,109 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $243,434,000 after purchasing an additional 1,961,166 shares during the period. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 4,876.0% during the first quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 574,978 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $11,971,000 after purchasing an additional 563,423 shares during the period. Edge Capital Group LLC raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 2,057.7% during the fourth quarter. Edge Capital Group LLC now owns 526,258 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $10,541,000 after purchasing an additional 501,868 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 143.9% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 820,390 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $17,081,000 after purchasing an additional 484,088 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARCC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Compass Point raised Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group raised Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price target on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.71.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

ARCC opened at $20.33 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $12.49 billion, a PE ratio of 6.96 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $20.79 and a 200-day moving average of $20.77. Ares Capital Co. has a 52-week low of $18.55 and a 52-week high of $21.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The investment management company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the company posted $0.58 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.44%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.75%.

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.