Comerica Bank Has $3.58 Million Stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Comerica Bank grew its holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 49.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 163,695 shares of the investment management company's stock after purchasing an additional 54,234 shares during the quarter. Comerica Bank's holdings in Ares Capital were worth $3,583,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at $84,426,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at about $58,159,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 11.8% during 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 during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Ares Capital by 26.0% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,268,547 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $93,439,000 after purchasing an additional 881,450 shares during the period. Finally, CCLA Investment Management raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 31.6% in the fourth quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 2,211,955 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $48,419,000 after purchasing an additional 531,305 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ARCC shares. StockNews.com lowered Ares Capital from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James downgraded Ares Capital from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $22.00.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.4 %

ARCC traded up $0.08 during trading on Friday, reaching $21.08. 4,359,697 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,135,004. The stock has a market cap of $14.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.60 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.21. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $21.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.89. Ares Capital Co. has a twelve month low of $18.26 and a twelve month high of $23.84.

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

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend 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.