Palogic Value Management L.P. Has $2.29 Million Holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Palogic Value Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 104,565 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,970 shares during the period. Palogic Value Management L.P.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $2,289,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $309,649,000 after buying an additional 1,489,552 shares during the period. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new position in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at $84,426,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 3.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,387,097 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $70,926,000 after buying an additional 104,710 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at $58,159,000. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,314,269 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $50,659,000 after buying an additional 96,992 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $21.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $22.85 and a 200-day moving average of $21.91. The company has a market cap of $14.81 billion, a PE ratio of 8.87 and a beta of 1.00. Ares Capital Co. has a one year low of $19.32 and a one year high of $23.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its earnings results 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 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 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

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 issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.84%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 78.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Raymond James downgraded shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given 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 stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.