Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Makes New $3.19 Million Investment in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Key Points

• Banque Cantonale Vaudoise has invested approximately $3.19 million in Ares Capital Corporation by acquiring 144,000 shares in the first quarter.
• Ares Capital reported a quarterly EPS of $0.50, which was slightly below the consensus estimate of $0.51, with revenues falling short of expectations at $614 million.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.48, reflecting an annualized yield of 8.52% and a high dividend payout ratio of 93.66%.

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 144,000 shares of the investment management company's stock, valued at approximately $3,191,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 871,370 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 881,450 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 9.0% in the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 3,567,816 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $79,063,000 after buying an additional 293,442 shares during the period. Advisors Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 105,526 shares during the period. Finally, Allen Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 8.4% in the first quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 2,975,197 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $65,930,000 after buying an additional 230,924 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on ARCC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday. JMP Securities set a $23.00 price target on Ares Capital and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. B. Riley raised Ares Capital from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $22.50 to $23.50 in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group increased their price target on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $22.86.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

NASDAQ ARCC remained flat at $22.63 on Thursday. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,421,056 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,014,072. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $22.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $22.05. Ares Capital Corporation has a 12-month low of $18.26 and a 12-month high of $23.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.04 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.40.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a net margin of 44.94% and a return on equity of 10.48%. The firm had revenue of $614.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $748.76 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.61 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ares Capital Corporation will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.5%. Ares Capital's payout ratio is currently 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.