Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Grows Position in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 4.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 397,694 shares of the investment management company's stock after acquiring an additional 15,448 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. owned 0.06% of Ares Capital worth $8,813,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 7,951,926 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $174,068,000 after purchasing an additional 871,370 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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 acquiring an additional 881,450 shares during the period. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new stake in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at about $84,426,000. Advisors Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 3,523,651 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $77,133,000 after acquiring an additional 105,526 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP raised its stake in Ares Capital by 81.0% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,678,525 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $58,633,000 after purchasing an additional 1,198,580 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of Ares Capital stock traded up $0.04 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $21.56. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,760,651 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,178,538. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $21.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.91. Ares Capital Corporation has a one year low of $18.26 and a one year high of $23.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The stock has a market cap of $14.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.52 and a beta of 0.68.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $769.32 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 43.50% and a return on equity of 11.05%. Ares Capital's revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Ares Capital Corporation will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.91%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio is currently 93.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. B. Riley upgraded shares of Ares Capital to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $22.00.

About Ares Capital

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.