Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Bought by Sage Advisors LLC

Sage Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 964,688 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 54,063 shares during the period. Ares Capital comprises approximately 15.8% of Sage Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Sage Advisors LLC owned 0.15% of Ares Capital worth $21,117,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ARCC. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at about $519,000. Round Rock Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,512,000. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 507,374 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $11,208,000 after acquiring an additional 25,347 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 24.3% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 650,163 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $13,900,000 after acquiring an additional 127,219 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in Ares Capital by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 885,406 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $18,540,000 after acquiring an additional 38,559 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on ARCC. Royal Bank of Canada lifted 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. Raymond James downgraded shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com cut Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.94.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of ARCC stock opened at $23.27 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $15.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.50 and a beta of 1.01. Ares Capital Co. has a 1 year low of $19.32 and a 1 year high of $23.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.60.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.25%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is 78.37%.

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.