Blair William & Co. IL Has $6.55 Million Stock Position in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Key Points

• Blair William & Co. IL increased its holdings in Ares Capital Corporation by 5.3% in the 1st quarter, acquiring an additional 14,897 shares to total 295,602 shares worth approximately $6.55 million.
• Several analysts have upgraded their ratings for Ares Capital, with B. Riley raising its rating to "buy" and setting a price objective of $23.50, while the consensus rating is "Moderate Buy" with a price target of $22.86.
• Ares Capital recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.48 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend of $1.92 and a yield of 8.5%, reflecting a dividend payout ratio of 93.66%.

Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 5.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 295,602 shares of the investment management company's stock after purchasing an additional 14,897 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL's holdings in Ares Capital were worth $6,551,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Ares Capital by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 25,419 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $556,000 after purchasing an additional 3,476 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 795,120 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $17,405,000 after acquiring an additional 144,957 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 60,227 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $1,318,000 after acquiring an additional 3,675 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 12,521 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $274,000 after acquiring an additional 488 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in Ares Capital by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 404,482 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $8,848,000 after acquiring an additional 32,608 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ARCC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JMP Securities set a $23.00 target price on Ares Capital and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on 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 raised shares of Ares Capital from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $22.50 to $23.50 in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $22.86.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of ARCC traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $22.43. 358,091 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,550,306. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.82 billion, a PE ratio of 10.92 and a beta of 0.70. Ares Capital Corporation has a 52 week low of $18.26 and a 52 week high of $23.84.

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

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.6%. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 93.66%.

Ares Capital Company 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.