Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Bought by Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc.

Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 428,184 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,755 shares during the quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $8,966,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 12,656,154 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $272,107,000 after purchasing an additional 975,045 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,836,573 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $80,338,000 after purchasing an additional 63,999 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 2,104.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,613,285 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $756,620,000 after purchasing an additional 3,449,395 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 3,492,247 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $72,778,000 after purchasing an additional 273,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,217,277 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $46,430,000 after purchasing an additional 79,074 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARCC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Compass Point upgraded Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. StockNews.com upgraded Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. JMP Securities lifted their price target on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.86.

Ares Capital Stock Up 1.1 %

ARCC opened at $22.02 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $21.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The company has a market cap of $14.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.47 and a beta of 1.01. Ares Capital Co. has a one year low of $19.32 and a one year high of $22.05.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $770.45 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 53.71%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.72%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 73.85%.

About Ares Capital

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.