Second Line Capital LLC Acquires 15,002 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Second Line Capital LLC lifted its stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 27.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 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 quarter. Second Line Capital LLC's holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,513,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ARCC. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter worth $84,426,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Ares Capital in the 4th quarter worth $58,159,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Ares Capital by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $309,649,000 after buying an additional 1,489,552 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Ares Capital by 26.0% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,268,547 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $93,439,000 after buying an additional 881,450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Ares Capital by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 7,951,926 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $174,068,000 after buying an additional 871,370 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:ARCC traded up $0.08 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $21.99. 3,011,747 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,130,617. Ares Capital Co. has a 1 year low of $18.26 and a 1 year high of $23.84. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $21.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.98 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.04). The business 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 quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.73%. Ares Capital's payout ratio is 93.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on ARCC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Raymond James lowered Ares Capital from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $22.00.

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.