Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) Position Boosted by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 17.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,104,408 shares of the investment management company's stock after buying an additional 165,773 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.16% of Ares Capital worth $24,474,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ARCC. World Investment Advisors raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 12,521 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $274,000 after acquiring an additional 488 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC now owns 21,851 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $478,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Western Financial Corp CA raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Western Financial Corp CA now owns 26,961 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $597,000 after purchasing an additional 574 shares in the last quarter. Magnus Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Magnus Financial Group LLC now owns 31,319 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $694,000 after purchasing an additional 664 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 2.8% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 24,361 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $540,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of Ares Capital stock traded up $0.12 on Friday, reaching $22.38. 2,213,408 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,206,623. The firm has a market cap of $15.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.92 and a beta of 0.67. Ares Capital Corporation has a 1-year low of $18.26 and a 1-year high of $23.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40. The company's 50-day moving average is $21.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.93.

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 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $599.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $769.32 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.05% and a net margin of 43.50%. Ares Capital's quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Ares Capital Corporation 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 was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th were issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.58%. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 93.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ARCC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, B. Riley raised shares of Ares Capital to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital has a consensus 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.