Kovack Advisors Inc. Acquires 5,784 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Kovack Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 18.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 37,401 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,784 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $749,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 95.8% in the 3rd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 24,009 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $467,000 after buying an additional 11,750 shares in the last quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 32,987 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $642,000 after buying an additional 2,238 shares in the last quarter. My Legacy Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. My Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 56,462 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,068,000 after buying an additional 2,340 shares in the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Finally, All Season Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. All Season Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 33,563 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $653,000 after buying an additional 1,608 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARCC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note 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 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.80.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.7 %

Ares Capital stock opened at $20.78 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $20.36 and a 200-day moving average of $20.02. Ares Capital Co. has a one year low of $17.53 and a one year high of $20.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The company has a market cap of $12.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.78 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.24%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.91%.

Ares Capital 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.