14,544 Shares in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Purchased by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 14,544 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $314,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Promus Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at $60,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 92.6% in the 4th quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 2,889 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 1,389 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 200.0% during the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 3,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the third quarter valued at $67,000. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Capital Stock Down 7.2 %

Ares Capital stock opened at $19.97 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $22.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $22.01. Ares Capital Co. has a 1-year low of $19.32 and a 1-year high of $23.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.15 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. Equities research analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.61%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ARCC. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Raymond James cut shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com lowered Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.94.

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.