Centaurus Financial Inc. Acquires 542 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Centaurus Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,428 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 542 shares during the period. Centaurus Financial Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $301,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ARCC. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the first quarter worth about $86,227,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 20.2% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 11,681,109 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $243,434,000 after acquiring an additional 1,961,166 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 143.9% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 820,390 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $17,081,000 after purchasing an additional 484,088 shares during the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the second quarter worth $9,815,000. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 52.7% during the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,354,097 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $28,192,000 after purchasing an additional 467,535 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on ARCC shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group raised Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. JMP Securities boosted their price target on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Compass Point raised Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.71.

Ares Capital Price Performance

NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $21.05 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $12.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.21 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $20.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.80. Ares Capital Co. has a one year low of $18.55 and a one year high of $21.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The investment management company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.03. Ares Capital had a net margin of 59.76% and a return on equity of 12.24%. The firm had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $714.27 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.58 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 65.75%.

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.