JBR Co Financial Management Inc Buys 5,950 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

JBR Co Financial Management Inc raised its stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 18.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 38,997 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 5,950 shares during the quarter. JBR Co Financial Management Inc’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $854,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ARCC. Horizon Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the third quarter worth $28,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 56.8% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,510 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 909 shares in the last quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 92.6% in the fourth quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 2,889 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389 shares in the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 200.0% in the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 3,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the third quarter worth $67,000. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ARCC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. B. Riley boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.94.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

NASDAQ ARCC opened at $23.30 on Friday. Ares Capital Co. has a 1 year low of $19.32 and a 1 year high of $23.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.51 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $22.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.70. 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) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.24%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 78.37%.

About Ares Capital

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.