JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 3.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,387,097 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 104,710 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 0.52% of Ares Capital worth $70,926,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 2,104.7% during the third 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 period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 8.3% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 12,656,154 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $272,107,000 after acquiring an additional 975,045 shares during the period. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 2nd quarter worth $9,815,000. Partners Group Holding AG increased its holdings in Ares Capital by 21.2% during the third quarter. Partners Group Holding AG now owns 1,787,401 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $37,428,000 after buying an additional 312,255 shares during the period. Finally, LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in Ares Capital by 8.5% in the second 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Stock Down 0.1 %

ARCC opened at $22.18 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $21.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.53 and a beta of 1.01. Ares Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $19.32 and a fifty-two week high of $22.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29.

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

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.66%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.85%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com raised Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. B. Riley lifted their price target on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Ares Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.29.

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.