Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Purchased by Crestwood Advisors Group LLC

Crestwood Advisors Group LLC raised its stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 71.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 161,305 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 67,423 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $3,531,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ARCC. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,489,552 shares during the last quarter. CCLA Investment Management increased its position in Ares Capital by 31.6% during the fourth quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 2,211,955 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $48,419,000 after buying an additional 531,305 shares during the period. Columbus Macro LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,870,000. Vista Finance LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,413,000. Finally, Partners Group Holding AG grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 21.2% during the third quarter. Partners Group Holding AG now owns 1,787,401 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $37,428,000 after acquiring an additional 312,255 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

NASDAQ ARCC opened at $23.22 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.48 and a beta of 1.01. The business’s 50 day moving average is $22.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.73. Ares Capital Co. has a 12-month low of $19.32 and a 12-month high of $23.84. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. Research analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.27%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ARCC has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. B. Riley boosted their price target on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Raymond James cut Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.94.

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.