Vista Finance LLC Makes New Investment in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Vista Finance LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 384,308 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,413,000. Ares Capital accounts for 8.6% of Vista Finance LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at about $519,000. Round Rock Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th 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 valued at $11,208,000 after buying an additional 25,347 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 24.3% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 650,163 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $13,900,000 after buying an additional 127,219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 4.6% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 885,406 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $18,540,000 after buying an additional 38,559 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on ARCC shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on 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 Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.94.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of Ares Capital stock opened at $23.27 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.50 and a beta of 1.01. Ares Capital Co. has a twelve month low of $19.32 and a twelve month 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.60.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its earnings results 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.2 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 78.37%.

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.