Baird Financial Group Inc. Acquires 87,353 Shares of Ares Capital Corporation $ARCC

Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 8.0% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,177,508 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 87,353 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $21,819,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 3.8% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 55,265 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,024,000 after acquiring an additional 2,038 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC increased its position in Ares Capital by 3.4% during the second quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 192,694 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,571,000 after acquiring an additional 6,321 shares during the period. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. increased its position in Ares Capital by 21.0% during the second quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 265,633 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $4,922,000 after acquiring an additional 46,158 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ares Capital by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,870,130 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $71,714,000 after purchasing an additional 335,197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VPR Management LLC raised its stake in Ares Capital by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. VPR Management LLC now owns 63,254 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,172,000 after purchasing an additional 636 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on ARCC shares. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Friday, September 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $19.00 to $18.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $19.00 target price (down from $20.00) on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.60.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of ARCC stock opened at $19.74 on Friday. Ares Capital Corporation has a one year low of $17.40 and a one year high of $22.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $19.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.87. The stock has a market cap of $14.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.62 and a beta of 0.57.

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

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.7%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is presently 142.22%.

Ares Capital Company Profile

Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: ARCC) is a business development company that provides financing to middle-market companies. The company invests primarily in privately originated loans and other debt investments, helping businesses fund acquisitions, recapitalizations, refinancings, growth initiatives and other corporate purposes.

Its investment portfolio generally includes senior secured loans, subordinated debt and mezzanine financing, along with selected equity investments. Ares Capital focuses on companies with established operations across a variety of industries and typically works with private equity sponsors, management teams and other financial partners.

Founded in 2004, Ares Capital is externally managed by Ares Capital Management LLC, an affiliate of global alternative investment manager Ares Management Corporation.