Legal & General Group Plc Raises Stock Position in Ares Capital Corporation $ARCC

Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 16.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,408,067 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 761,838 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.75% of Ares Capital worth $109,432,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ARCC. SWAN Capital LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Ares Capital during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. grew its stake in Ares Capital by 201.0% during the third quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 1,764 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,178 shares in the last quarter. WFA of San Diego LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital during the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of ARCC opened at $18.81 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $13.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.54 and a beta of 0.58. 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 $18.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.44.

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 Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is presently 117.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. B. Riley Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Citizens Jmp cut their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.75.

Ares Capital Company 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.