Sage Advisors LLC Purchases 111,007 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Sage Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 14.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 871,608 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 111,007 shares during the quarter. Ares Capital comprises approximately 14.8% of Sage Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Sage Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.14% of Ares Capital worth $18,164,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ARCC. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its position in Ares Capital by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 389,236 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $7,913,000 after buying an additional 20,202 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital during the first quarter worth about $86,227,000. SteelPeak Wealth LLC increased its stake in Ares Capital by 151.4% during the second quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 45,698 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $952,000 after acquiring an additional 27,523 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in Ares Capital by 206.7% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 55,516 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,156,000 after acquiring an additional 37,412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. increased its stake in Ares Capital by 13.4% during the second quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 651,938 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $13,586,000 after acquiring an additional 76,960 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of Ares Capital stock opened at $20.84 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $20.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The company has a market capitalization of $12.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.14 and a beta of 1.01. Ares Capital Co. has a 1-year low of $18.55 and a 1-year high of $21.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The investment management company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.03. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.24% and a net margin of 59.76%. The firm had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $714.27 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.58 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.39 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.21%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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