Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Acquired by Waterloo Capital L.P.

Waterloo Capital L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 138,599 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,139 shares during the period. Waterloo Capital L.P.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $3,034,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ARCC. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Ares Capital by 25.1% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 222,101 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $4,651,000 after buying an additional 44,548 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,547,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 61.0% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 26,968 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $565,000 after acquiring an additional 10,220 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 942,179 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $19,736,000 after purchasing an additional 121,205 shares during the period. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its position in Ares Capital by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 34,599 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $725,000 after purchasing an additional 4,074 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Capital Stock Down 7.2 %

Ares Capital stock opened at $19.97 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. Ares Capital Co. has a 1-year low of $19.32 and a 1-year high of $23.84. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.02. The company has a market capitalization of $13.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.15 and a beta of 0.77.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted 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 net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. Sell-side analysts forecast 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 was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.61%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 78.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on ARCC. Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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. Raymond James lowered Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.