KG&L Capital Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Ares Capital Corporation $ARCC

KG&L Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 344.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 49,670 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 38,500 shares during the period. KG&L Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,005,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. City Holding Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 444.4% in the 3rd quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 1,225 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the period. SWAN Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. NBT Bank N A NY acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, WFA of San Diego LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ares Capital

In other Ares Capital news, CFO Scott C. Lem purchased 5,186 shares of Ares Capital stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $19.29 per share, with a total value of $100,037.94. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer owned 39,463 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $761,241.27. This trade represents a 15.13% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Michael Kort Schnabel purchased 12,500 shares of Ares Capital stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $19.13 per share, with a total value of $239,125.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 40,500 shares in the company, valued at $774,765. This trade represents a 44.64% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ARCC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 13th. Wall Street Zen cut Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.38.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

NASDAQ ARCC opened at $18.09 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.73 and a beta of 0.58. Ares Capital Corporation has a twelve month low of $17.40 and a twelve month high of $23.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $18.67 and a 200 day moving average of $19.72.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The investment management company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. The company had revenue of $793.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $795.20 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 9.89% and a net margin of 42.56%.Ares Capital’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Corporation will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.6%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 103.23%.

Ares Capital Profile

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.