HighTower Advisors LLC Acquires 1,220,570 Shares of Ares Capital Corporation $ARCC

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors LLC has increased its stake in Ares Capital Corporation by 87.2%, acquiring an additional 1,220,570 shares, bringing its total ownership to 2,621,109 shares valued at approximately $58 million.
• Ares Capital announced a quarterly dividend of $0.48 per share, representing an annualized yield of 8.5%, with the record date set for September 15th.
• Analysts' price targets for Ares Capital vary, with JPMorgan lowering its target from $24.50 to $22.00, while UBS raised it to $22.50, indicating a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for the stock.

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 87.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,621,109 shares of the investment management company's stock after buying an additional 1,220,570 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.38% of Ares Capital worth $58,084,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Continuum Advisory LLC boosted 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 worth $36,000 after buying an additional 1,241 shares during the last quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 193.9% in the 1st quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV now owns 1,828 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 1,206 shares during the last quarter. PSI Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 121.1% during the 1st quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 2,100 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares during the last quarter. Archer Investment Corp increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 281.3% during the 1st quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 2,440 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 137.6% during the 1st quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 2,704 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 1,566 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ARCC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. B. Riley raised shares of Ares Capital from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $22.50 to $23.50 in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ares Capital from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, JMP Securities set a $23.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $22.86.

Ares Capital Price Performance

NASDAQ:ARCC traded up $0.02 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $22.43. The stock had a trading volume of 1,269,225 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,519,595. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Ares Capital Corporation has a one year low of $18.26 and a one year high of $23.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.94 and a beta of 0.70.

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

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Ares Capital's dividend 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.