Altshuler Shaham Ltd Acquires New Stake in Ares Capital Corporation $ARCC

Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,650,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,380,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Guggenheim Capital LLC boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 34,129 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $690,000 after purchasing an additional 1,740 shares during the last quarter. Challenger Wealth Management boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Challenger Wealth Management now owns 245,791 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $4,972,000 after purchasing an additional 3,437 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 83,018 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,679,000 after purchasing an additional 5,750 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 104.0% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 72,679 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after purchasing an additional 37,044 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 1,473,064 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $29,800,000 after purchasing an additional 82,633 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on ARCC shares. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Oppenheimer cut their target price on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Citizens Jmp cut their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, B. Riley Financial cut their target price on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.65.

Ares Capital Price Performance

NASDAQ ARCC opened at $18.10 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.00 billion, a PE ratio of 11.10 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40. The business’s fifty day moving average is $18.77 and its 200 day moving average is $19.32. Ares Capital Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $17.40 and a fifty-two week high of $23.42.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The investment management company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $763.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $778.00 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 37.30% and a return on equity of 9.85%. Ares Capital’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Ares Capital Corporation will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.6%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 117.79%.

About Ares Capital

Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: ARCC) is a publicly traded business development company (BDC) that specializes in providing debt and equity financing solutions to U.S. middle-market companies. As a BDC, Ares Capital offers investors access to a diversified portfolio of tailored credit investments, including senior secured loans, unitranche financing, mezzanine debt and equity co-investments. The firm’s flexible capital structures are designed to support companies seeking growth capital, refinancing or strategic acquisitions.

Through its credit platform, Ares Capital focuses on originations, underwriting and portfolio management across a range of industries, with a particular emphasis on sectors such as healthcare, technology, industrials and business services.