Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. Takes $7.89 Million Position in Ares Capital Corporation $ARCC

Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 425,878 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,892,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 16,502 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $365,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new stake in Ares Capital in the first quarter worth approximately $273,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 14.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,835,007 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $62,824,000 after buying an additional 358,829 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in Ares Capital by 139.9% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 27,655 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $613,000 after acquiring an additional 16,128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital during the first quarter valued at approximately $14,766,000. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ARCC. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. B. Riley Financial lowered their price target 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. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.40.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of Ares Capital stock opened at $19.90 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28. Ares Capital Corporation has a one year low of $17.40 and a one year high of $22.51. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.74 and a beta of 0.56.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The investment management company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 9.80% and a net margin of 30.91%.The firm had revenue of $768.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $770.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Ares Capital Corporation will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 142.22%.

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.