Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Raises Stake in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its stake in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 4.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 397,694 shares of the investment management company's stock after buying an additional 15,448 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. owned 0.06% of Ares Capital worth $8,813,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Montag & Caldwell LLC acquired a new position in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 320.7% in the 1st quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,628 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,241 shares during the period. PSI Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 121.1% in the 1st quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 2,100 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares during the period. Finally, Promus Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at about $48,000. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:ARCC traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $21.95. 4,547,780 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,188,576. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $21.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.91. Ares Capital Corporation has a 12-month low of $18.26 and a 12-month high of $23.84. The stock has a market cap of $15.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.71 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $599.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $769.32 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.59 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ares Capital Corporation will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.75%. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio is presently 93.66%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ARCC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target 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. UBS Group lowered their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently 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.