Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Bought by Blue Trust Inc.

Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 56.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,510 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 909 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $52,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ARCC. SteelPeak Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 151.4% in the 2nd quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 45,698 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $952,000 after acquiring an additional 27,523 shares during the last quarter. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ares Capital in the third quarter worth approximately $2,101,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $1,156,000 after buying an additional 37,412 shares in the last quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 13.4% in the second quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 651,938 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $13,586,000 after buying an additional 76,960 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Capital Management LLC increased its position in Ares Capital by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 3,099,134 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $64,524,000 after buying an additional 223,245 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of ARCC stock opened at $21.14 on Friday. Ares Capital Co. has a 52-week low of $18.86 and a 52-week high of $22.05. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.94. 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 company has a market capitalization of $13.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.24 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.45 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 59.76% and a return on equity of 12.24%. The company’s revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.08%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is currently 65.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on ARCC. Compass Point raised shares of Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group upgraded Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. B. Riley lifted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Three 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.86.

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.