Whipplewood Advisors LLC Invests $191,000 in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 8,715 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $191,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $519,000. Round Rock Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,512,000. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its position 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 buying an additional 25,347 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position 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 buying an additional 127,219 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 4.6% during the 3rd 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Ares Capital Stock Performance

ARCC opened at $23.12 on Friday. Ares Capital Co. has a 52-week low of $19.32 and a 52-week high of $23.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.52 billion, a PE ratio of 9.44 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.21. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.77.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share (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, sell-side analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.30%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is presently 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.