Ares Capital Corporation $ARCC is Sage Advisors LLC's 2nd Largest Position

Key Points

• Sage Advisors LLC increased its stake in Ares Capital Corporation by 5.7%, now owning approximately 1,055,015 shares, representing 16.5% of its investment portfolio.
• Equities analysts have been optimistic about Ares Capital, with multiple firms raising their target prices; the average target price is $22.81 and the stock has a rating of "Moderate Buy."
• Ares Capital recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.48 per share, yielding 9.9%, with a dividend payout ratio of 93.66%.

Sage Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,055,015 shares of the investment management company's stock after acquiring an additional 56,529 shares during the period. Ares Capital accounts for approximately 16.5% of Sage Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Sage Advisors LLC owned about 0.15% of Ares Capital worth $23,168,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ARCC. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital during the 2nd quarter valued at about $877,203,000. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ares Capital by 87.2% during the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 2,621,109 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $58,084,000 after acquiring an additional 1,220,570 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital during the 1st quarter valued at about $14,766,000. CCLA Investment Management grew its stake in Ares Capital by 26.5% during the 1st quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 2,799,023 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $62,026,000 after acquiring an additional 587,068 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SCS Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Ares Capital in the 1st quarter valued at about $11,778,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. B. Riley upgraded shares of Ares Capital from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $22.50 to $23.50 in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Capital One Financial set a $22.50 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $22.81.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of ARCC stock opened at $19.49 on Tuesday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $21.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. Ares Capital Corporation has a one year low of $18.26 and a one year high of $23.84. The firm has a market cap of $13.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.51 and a beta of 0.68.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 10.48% and a net margin of 44.94%.The company had revenue of $614.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $748.76 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.61 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ares Capital Corporation will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.9%. Ares Capital's dividend 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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