12,012 Shares in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Acquired by Stablepoint Partners LLC

Stablepoint Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 12,012 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $263,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Ares Capital by 8.3% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 12,656,154 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $272,107,000 after purchasing an additional 975,045 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,836,573 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $80,338,000 after buying an additional 63,999 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 2,104.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,613,285 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $756,620,000 after acquiring an additional 3,449,395 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position 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 worth $70,926,000 after acquiring an additional 104,710 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 96,992 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised Ares Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. B. Riley boosted their target price on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.29.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of ARCC opened at $23.43 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.37. Ares Capital Co. has a twelve month low of $19.32 and a twelve month high of $23.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.01 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.45 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 53.71% and a return on equity of 12.06%. Ares Capital’s revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.19%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 73.85%.

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.