Baillie Gifford & Co. Purchases 179,770 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 17.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,183,649 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 179,770 shares during the quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. owned about 0.20% of Ares Capital worth $24,644,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Retirement Group LLC increased its stake in Ares Capital by 217.0% during the first quarter. Retirement Group LLC now owns 3,046 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 2,085 shares during the last quarter. Wambolt & Associates LLC boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 14.3% during the first quarter. Wambolt & Associates LLC now owns 225,024 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $4,588,000 after buying an additional 28,194 shares during the period. Diversify Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital during the first quarter valued at $331,000. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 12.2% in the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 264,310 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $5,503,000 after acquiring an additional 28,718 shares during the period. Finally, J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 42,749 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $888,000 after purchasing an additional 3,910 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.7 %

Ares Capital stock traded up $0.14 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $21.10. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,683,447 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,174,385. Ares Capital Co. has a 52-week low of $18.55 and a 52-week high of $21.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.23 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $21.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $20.54.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The investment management company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a net margin of 62.77% and a return on equity of 12.37%. The company had revenue of $701.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $703.85 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.56 earnings per share. Ares Capital’s quarterly revenue was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARCC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.50 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Truist Financial upped their target price on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.50.

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.