LGT Capital Partners LTD. Buys 37,500 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

LGT Capital Partners LTD. grew its holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 6.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 667,500 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 37,500 shares during the quarter. LGT Capital Partners LTD. owned about 0.12% of Ares Capital worth $13,370,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Syntal Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Syntal Capital Partners LLC now owns 17,346 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $338,000 after purchasing an additional 551 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in Ares Capital by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 35,595 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $693,000 after acquiring an additional 587 shares in the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 4.4% during the third quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 14,067 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $274,000 after purchasing an additional 597 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 1.1% in the first quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 54,276 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $992,000 after purchasing an additional 607 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirador Capital Partners LP lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP now owns 208,201 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,912,000 after buying an additional 701 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $20.82 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The company has a market cap of $12.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.80 and a beta of 0.99. Ares Capital Co. has a one year low of $17.53 and a one year high of $20.86. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.83.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The investment management company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $707.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $669.78 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 58.22% and a return on equity of 12.50%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.68 EPS. Research analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.22%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.91%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ARCC. B. Riley cut shares of Ares Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Tuesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.80.

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.