Bank of America Corp DE Purchases 871,370 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 12.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,951,926 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 871,370 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $174,068,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ARCC. Montag & Caldwell LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at about $48,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth about $60,000. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 92.6% in the 4th quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 2,889 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $21.08 on Friday. Ares Capital Co. has a 1 year low of $18.26 and a 1 year high of $23.84. 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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $21.11 and its 200 day moving average is $21.89. The company has a market cap of $14.54 billion, a PE ratio of 8.60 and a beta of 0.70.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $599.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $769.32 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. The business’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.59 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is currently 93.66%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Raymond James downgraded Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.00.

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.