Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Boosts Stock Holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 27.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 40,459 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 8,824 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $888,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ARCC. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 2,104.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,613,285 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $756,620,000 after acquiring an additional 3,449,395 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 12,656,154 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $272,107,000 after purchasing an additional 975,045 shares in the last quarter. CCLA Investment Management boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 31.6% in the 4th quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 2,211,955 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $48,419,000 after purchasing an additional 531,305 shares during the period. Columbus Macro LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at about $8,870,000. Finally, Partners Group Holding AG increased its position in shares of 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. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on ARCC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. B. Riley increased their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James cut Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.94.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC opened at $22.70 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $22.43 and its 200 day moving average is $21.56. The stock has a market cap of $15.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.27 and a beta of 1.01. Ares Capital Co. has a 1-year low of $19.32 and a 1-year high of $23.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.46%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 78.37%.

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.