168,049 Shares in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) Purchased by Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s.

Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. bought a new stake in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 168,049 shares of the investment management company's stock, valued at approximately $3,724,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 43,056 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $942,000 after acquiring an additional 1,945 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp bought a new position in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at about $222,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 18.2% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 47,840 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $1,058,000 after acquiring an additional 7,381 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 23,571.4% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,314 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 3,300 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 2,116.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 13,274 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $2,940,000 after acquiring an additional 12,675 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC traded up $0.12 during trading on Friday, hitting $22.38. The company had a trading volume of 2,213,408 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,212,740. 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 12 month low of $18.26 and a 12 month high of $23.84. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.92 and a beta of 0.67.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $599.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $769.32 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.59 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Corporation will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio is currently 93.66%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARCC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. B. Riley raised Ares Capital to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective 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 issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $22.00.

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.