M&T Bank Corp Increases Stock Position in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC)

M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 753.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 86,534 shares of the investment management company's stock after buying an additional 76,400 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp's holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,918,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. increased its holdings in Ares Capital by 1.9% during the first quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 722,406 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $16,009,000 after buying an additional 13,490 shares during the last quarter. Capital Management Associates Inc increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 25.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital Management Associates Inc now owns 12,454 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $276,000 after purchasing an additional 2,490 shares during the last quarter. Fullcircle Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the 1st quarter worth approximately $405,000. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 150,219 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $3,329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,135 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Counselors Inc. lifted its stake in Ares Capital by 4.4% in the first quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 34,862 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $773,000 after purchasing an additional 1,480 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ARCC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. B. Riley upgraded Ares Capital to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $22.21.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of Ares Capital stock traded up $0.31 on Wednesday, reaching $23.06. The stock had a trading volume of 2,868,843 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,207,421. The business's 50 day moving average is $21.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Ares Capital Corporation has a 1 year low of $18.26 and a 1 year high of $23.84. The company has a market cap of $16.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.25 and a beta of 0.67.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $599.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $769.32 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 43.50% and a return on equity of 11.05%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Corporation will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.33%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio 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.