Second Line Capital LLC Increases Stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Second Line Capital LLC raised its holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 27.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 69,126 shares of the investment management company's stock after purchasing an additional 15,002 shares during the period. Second Line Capital LLC's holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,513,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of ARCC. Montag & Caldwell LLC bought a new stake in Ares Capital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Promus Capital LLC bought a new stake in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. lifted its position in Ares Capital by 92.6% during the fourth quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 2,889 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Ares Capital Trading Down 0.1%

Ares Capital stock traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $21.51. 1,489,078 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,124,160. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $21.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.77 and a beta of 0.70. Ares Capital Co. has a 52-week low of $18.26 and a 52-week high of $23.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $599.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $769.32 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio is currently 93.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on ARCC. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ares Capital from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Raymond James lowered shares of Ares Capital from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $22.00.

Ares Capital Company 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.