Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Acquires 194,552 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 104.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 381,633 shares of the investment management company's stock after purchasing an additional 194,552 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC owned about 0.06% of Ares Capital worth $8,354,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 11.8% in the 4th 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 last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake 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 valued at $93,439,000 after acquiring an additional 881,450 shares during the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at $84,426,000. Advisors Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $77,133,000 after acquiring an additional 105,526 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at $58,159,000. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ARCC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Raymond James cut Ares Capital from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group decreased their price objective 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 decreased their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday. 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 report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $22.22.

Ares Capital Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of ARCC stock traded down $0.23 on Thursday, reaching $20.44. 1,622,116 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,110,258. The company has a market cap of $13.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.35 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a 50-day moving average of $21.45 and a 200-day moving average of $21.93. 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 Co. has a one year low of $18.26 and a one year high of $23.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last released 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 company had revenue of $599.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $769.32 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. Ares Capital's revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.40%. Ares Capital's payout ratio is 78.37%.

Ares Capital Company 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.