Stableford Capital II LLC Acquires 21,959 Shares of Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Stableford Capital II LLC increased its holdings in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 35.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 84,743 shares of the investment management company's stock after acquiring an additional 21,959 shares during the quarter. Stableford Capital II LLC's holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,729,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Ares Capital by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 7,951,926 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $174,068,000 after acquiring an additional 871,370 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 26.0% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,268,547 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $93,439,000 after purchasing an additional 881,450 shares in the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new position in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth $84,426,000. Advisors Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 3,523,651 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $77,133,000 after purchasing an additional 105,526 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 81.0% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,678,525 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $58,633,000 after purchasing an additional 1,198,580 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, B. Riley upgraded Ares Capital to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $22.00.

Ares Capital Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:ARCC traded down $0.02 on Monday, hitting $21.47. 4,346,404 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,175,238. Ares Capital Corporation has a 52 week low of $18.26 and a 52 week high of $23.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.92. The company has a market cap of $14.90 billion, a PE ratio of 10.47 and a beta of 0.68.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.04). Ares Capital had a net margin of 43.50% and a return on equity of 11.05%. The company had revenue of $599.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $769.32 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. Ares Capital's revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Ares Capital Corporation will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.94%. Ares Capital's payout ratio is 93.66%.

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.