LGT Group Foundation Acquires 115,543 Shares of Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Key Points

• LGT Group Foundation increased its stake in Ares Capital Corporation by 30.1% during the first quarter, owning approximately 499,153 shares worth $11,061,000.
• Ares Capital reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.50, which was $0.01 below consensus estimates, and had a net margin of 44.94%.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.48 per share, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 8.6% and a payout ratio of 93.66%.

LGT Group Foundation increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 30.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 499,153 shares of the investment management company's stock after purchasing an additional 115,543 shares during the period. LGT Group Foundation owned approximately 0.07% of Ares Capital worth $11,061,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARCC. Montag & Caldwell LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Continuum Advisory LLC grew its position in Ares Capital by 320.7% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV grew its position in Ares Capital by 193.9% during the first 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 in the last quarter. PSI Advisors LLC boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Archer Investment Corp boosted its holdings 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 valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 1,800 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ARCC. B. Riley raised Ares Capital from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $22.50 to $23.50 in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $22.86.

Ares Capital Price Performance

NASDAQ:ARCC traded down $0.25 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $22.41. The company had a trading volume of 3,309,915 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,608,280. Ares Capital Corporation has a 52-week low of $18.26 and a 52-week high of $23.84. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $22.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.00. The company has a market capitalization of $15.81 billion, a PE ratio of 10.93 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $614.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $748.76 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.61 earnings per share. As a group, 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 declared 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 presently 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.