Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Purchased by Lafayette Investments Inc.

Lafayette Investments Inc. increased its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 14.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,080 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares during the quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $462,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Baron Financial Group LLC raised its position in Ares Capital by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Baron Financial Group LLC now owns 18,366 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $368,000 after acquiring an additional 543 shares in the last quarter. Syntal Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Ares Capital by 3.3% during the third quarter. Syntal Capital Partners LLC now owns 17,346 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $338,000 after acquiring an additional 551 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in Ares Capital by 1.7% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 35,595 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $693,000 after acquiring an additional 587 shares in the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. raised its position in Ares Capital by 4.4% during the third quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 14,067 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $274,000 after acquiring an additional 597 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors raised its position in Ares Capital by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 12,787 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $256,000 after acquiring an additional 605 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of Ares Capital stock traded up $0.12 on Friday, reaching $20.54. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 623,342 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,599,099. The company has a market capitalization of $12.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.65 and a beta of 1.00. Ares Capital Co. has a 52-week low of $17.53 and a 52-week high of $20.86. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $20.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The investment management company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $707.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $669.78 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.50% and a net margin of 58.22%. The business’s revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.35%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on ARCC shares. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, B. Riley cut Ares Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.80.

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.