Simon Quick Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 24,847 Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Simon Quick Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 24,847 shares of the investment management company's stock, valued at approximately $551,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 7,951,926 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $174,068,000 after acquiring an additional 871,370 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 26.0% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,268,547 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $93,439,000 after buying an additional 881,450 shares in the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $84,426,000. Advisors Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 3,523,651 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $77,133,000 after buying an additional 105,526 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 81.0% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,678,525 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $58,633,000 after buying an additional 1,198,580 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on ARCC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $22.00.

Ares Capital Price Performance

NASDAQ ARCC traded down $0.75 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $21.53. 4,992,011 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,159,347. The stock has a market cap of $14.95 billion, a PE ratio of 8.79 and a beta of 0.68. Ares Capital Co. has a one year low of $18.26 and a one year high of $23.84. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $21.20 and a 200-day moving average of $21.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.59 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.92%. Ares Capital's 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.