COFG Advisors LLC Takes Position in Ares Capital Corporation $ARCC

COFG Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 37,893 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $767,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ARCC. UBS Group AG boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 41.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 11,201,905 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $226,615,000 after acquiring an additional 3,301,890 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in Ares Capital during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,943,000. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Ares Capital by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,408,067 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $109,432,000 after purchasing an additional 761,838 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Ares Capital by 8.9% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 8,678,129 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $190,572,000 after purchasing an additional 705,882 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC bought a new stake in Ares Capital during the first quarter valued at approximately $14,766,000. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of ARCC opened at $19.07 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $13.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.70 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. Ares Capital Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $17.40 and a fifty-two week high of $23.42. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $18.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.42.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The investment management company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $763.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $778.00 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 37.30%.The company’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ares Capital Corporation will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is presently 117.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARCC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citizens Jmp dropped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.75.

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.