Independent Advisor Alliance Acquires New Shares in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Independent Advisor Alliance acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 229,547 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,025,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ARCC. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at $58,159,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in Ares Capital by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $309,649,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489,552 shares during the last quarter. CCLA Investment Management raised its position in Ares Capital by 31.6% during the 4th quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 2,211,955 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $48,419,000 after purchasing an additional 531,305 shares during the last quarter. Columbus Macro LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital during the 4th quarter worth $8,870,000. Finally, Vista Finance LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital during the 4th quarter worth $8,413,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

ARCC stock opened at $21.86 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $22.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.90. 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 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market cap of $14.68 billion, a PE ratio of 8.92 and a beta of 1.00.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.78%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James lowered Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.94.

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.