Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Purchased by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 4.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 885,406 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 38,559 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $18,540,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 3.1% in the third quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 53,362 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,117,000 after purchasing an additional 1,614 shares during the period. WealthPLAN Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 41.9% during the 3rd quarter. WealthPLAN Partners LLC now owns 17,803 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $373,000 after buying an additional 5,255 shares in the last quarter. First National Trust Co boosted its position in Ares Capital by 96.7% in the 3rd quarter. First National Trust Co now owns 96,528 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,021,000 after buying an additional 47,461 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 5.5% in the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 44,370 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $929,000 after acquiring an additional 2,322 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 27.9% during the third quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 116,291 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,435,000 after acquiring an additional 25,377 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARCC has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Compass Point raised Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, B. Riley raised their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.86.

Ares Capital Stock Down 0.3 %

ARCC stock opened at $21.51 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $13.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.27 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. Ares Capital Co. has a twelve month low of $19.32 and a twelve month high of $22.05. The company’s 50 day moving average is $21.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.00.

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

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.93%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.