Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Purchased by Lafayette Investments Inc.

Lafayette Investments Inc. increased its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 14.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 23,080 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $462,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Baron Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Baron Financial Group LLC now owns 18,366 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $368,000 after purchasing an additional 543 shares during the last quarter. Syntal Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 3.3% during the third quarter. Syntal Capital Partners LLC now owns 17,346 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $338,000 after purchasing an additional 551 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 1.7% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 35,595 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $693,000 after purchasing an additional 587 shares during the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 4.4% during the third quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 14,067 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 597 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 12,787 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 605 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. B. Riley cut Ares Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.80.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC traded up $0.12 during trading on Friday, reaching $20.54. The company had a trading volume of 623,342 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,599,099. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.46 billion, a PE ratio of 7.65 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. Ares Capital Co. has a twelve month low of $17.53 and a twelve month high of $20.86. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $20.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $19.94.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The investment management company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $707.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $669.78 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.50% and a net margin of 58.22%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.35%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend 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.