Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Acquired by Stephens Inc. AR

Stephens Inc. AR grew its holdings in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 9.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,250,087 shares of the investment management company's stock after acquiring an additional 107,228 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR owned about 0.18% of Ares Capital worth $27,702,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. BankPlus Trust Department lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. BankPlus Trust Department now owns 87,289 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $1,934,000 after purchasing an additional 7,134 shares during the last quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the first quarter worth $377,000. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the first quarter worth $2,269,000. SteelPeak Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 5.6% during the first quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 47,463 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $1,052,000 after purchasing an additional 2,509 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 15.5% during the first quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,117 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $312,000 after purchasing an additional 2,031 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on ARCC shares. UBS Group lowered their target price 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. B. Riley upgraded shares of Ares Capital to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. One 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $22.00.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

NASDAQ ARCC traded up $0.06 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $22.84. The company had a trading volume of 2,646,760 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,217,212. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40. Ares Capital Corporation has a 1-year low of $18.26 and a 1-year high of $23.84. The company has a market cap of $15.86 billion, a PE ratio of 11.14 and a beta of 0.67. The business has a 50 day moving average of $21.82 and a 200-day moving average of $21.97.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last released 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). 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $769.32 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. The business's revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ares Capital Corporation will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.41%. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 93.66%.

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.