Axa S.A. Acquires New Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Axa S.A. bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 42,378 shares of the investment management company's stock, valued at approximately $928,000.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Capital from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James lowered shares of Ares Capital from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $22.00.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $21.08 on Friday. The business's 50-day moving average is $21.11 and its 200 day moving average is $21.89. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $18.26 and a 1 year high of $23.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.60 and a beta of 0.70.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $599.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $769.32 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. The business's revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.59 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Ares Capital's payout ratio is 93.66%.

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.

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