D.A. Davidson & CO. Acquires 26,137 Shares of Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC)

D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its stake in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 3.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 877,617 shares of the investment management company's stock after purchasing an additional 26,137 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. owned 0.13% of Ares Capital worth $19,448,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Montag & Caldwell LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Continuum Advisory LLC grew 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 buying an additional 1,241 shares in the last quarter. PSI Advisors LLC grew 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 buying an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Promus Capital LLC acquired a new position in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth approximately $48,000. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on ARCC. UBS Group decreased 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 report on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective 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. B. Riley raised shares of Ares Capital to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $22.00.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

ARCC stock traded up $0.12 on Friday, reaching $22.38. 2,213,408 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,206,623. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.54 billion, a PE ratio of 10.92 and a beta of 0.67. Ares Capital Corporation has a 12 month low of $18.26 and a 12 month high of $23.84. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $21.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40.

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). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.05% and a net margin of 43.50%. The company had revenue of $599.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $769.32 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Corporation will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.58%. 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.