Perennial Advisors LLC Makes New $4.18 Million Investment in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Perennial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 191,040 shares of the investment management company's stock, valued at approximately $4,182,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Montag & Caldwell LLC acquired a new position in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Promus Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth approximately $48,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth $60,000. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 92.6% during the 4th quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 2,889 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 1,389 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ARCC. Wall Street Zen downgraded Ares Capital from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group decreased their price target 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $22.00.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of ARCC traded up $0.04 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $22.03. The company had a trading volume of 1,730,095 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,131,583. The stock has a market cap of $15.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.99 and a beta of 0.70. Ares Capital Co. has a 52 week low of $18.26 and a 52 week high of $23.84. The company's 50 day moving average price is $21.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last posted 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). Ares Capital had a net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. The firm had revenue of $599.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $769.32 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. The company's revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.72%. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio is 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.