Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda Purchases Shares of 14,478 Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 14,478 shares of the investment management company's stock, valued at approximately $317,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $309,649,000 after acquiring an additional 1,489,552 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in 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 valued at $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 fourth quarter worth about $84,426,000. Advisors Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 3.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 105,526 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $58,159,000. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARCC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group reduced 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James lowered shares of Ares Capital from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Capital from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ares Capital currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $22.14.

Ares Capital Stock Up 2.3 %

ARCC stock traded up $0.46 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $20.80. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,299,672 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,123,863. The company has a market capitalization of $14.34 billion, a PE ratio of 8.49 and a beta of 0.70. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $21.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.92. 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $18.26 and a 12 month high of $23.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last issued 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). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. The business had revenue of $599.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $769.32 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.23%. The ex-dividend date 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.