Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. Raises Holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 67,541 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,279 shares during the period. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,353,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in Ares Capital by 4.8% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 66,849 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,276,000 after acquiring an additional 3,090 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in Ares Capital by 5.6% during the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 13,978 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $262,000 after acquiring an additional 744 shares during the last quarter. Riverbridge Partners LLC boosted its position in Ares Capital by 13.3% during the third quarter. Riverbridge Partners LLC now owns 46,216 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $900,000 after acquiring an additional 5,442 shares during the last quarter. Xcel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital during the third quarter worth approximately $198,000. Finally, Perennial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ares Capital by 1.9% during the third quarter. Perennial Advisors LLC now owns 177,871 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,463,000 after acquiring an additional 3,343 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ARCC. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, B. Riley lowered shares of Ares Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.80.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ARCC traded up $0.08 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $20.74. 2,077,675 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,593,205. Ares Capital Co. has a twelve month low of $17.53 and a twelve month high of $20.86. The company has a market cap of $12.58 billion, a PE ratio of 7.77 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $20.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.99.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The investment management company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.03. Ares Capital had a net margin of 58.22% and a return on equity of 12.50%. The firm had revenue of $707.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $669.78 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.68 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.26%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is currently 71.91%.

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.