Snowden Capital Advisors LLC Purchases 13,927 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Snowden Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 17.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 95,784 shares of the investment management company's stock after purchasing an additional 13,927 shares during the quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Ares Capital were worth $2,097,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARCC. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 19,148 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $419,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 12,521 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $274,000 after acquiring an additional 488 shares during the period. Fiduciary Group LLC increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC now owns 21,851 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $478,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ares Capital by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 56,182 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $1,230,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the period. Finally, Western Financial Corp CA increased its holdings in Ares Capital by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Western Financial Corp CA now owns 26,387 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $578,000 after buying an additional 564 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ARCC. 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 reduced their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Ares Capital from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $22.00.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Ares Capital stock traded down $0.05 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $21.47. The company's stock had a trading volume of 920,832 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,122,919. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $21.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.91. Ares Capital Co. has a 1-year low of $18.26 and a 1-year high of $23.84. The company has a market cap of $14.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.75 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $599.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $769.32 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. 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 Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. 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.