Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Stock Holdings Increased by Waverly Advisors LLC

Waverly Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 28.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 195,983 shares of the investment management company's stock after acquiring an additional 43,050 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC's holdings in Ares Capital were worth $4,290,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Ares Capital by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $309,649,000 after acquiring an additional 1,489,552 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 7,951,926 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $174,068,000 after purchasing an additional 871,370 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 26.0% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,268,547 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $93,439,000 after purchasing an additional 881,450 shares in the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth about $84,426,000. Finally, Advisors Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 3,523,651 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $77,133,000 after purchasing an additional 105,526 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Ares Capital Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:ARCC traded up $0.26 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $21.85. The company's stock had a trading volume of 887,629 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,129,744. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.21. Ares Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $18.26 and a fifty-two week high of $23.84. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $21.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.92. The company has a market capitalization of $15.16 billion, a PE ratio of 8.92 and a beta of 0.70.

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 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 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.79%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio is currently 93.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on ARCC shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced 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. Raymond James cut Ares Capital from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note 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 research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $22.00.

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.