The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Buys 4,030 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 2.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 177,553 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,030 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $3,700,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ARCC. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital in the first quarter worth approximately $86,227,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 20.2% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 11,681,109 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $243,434,000 after buying an additional 1,961,166 shares during the period. 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 acquiring an additional 484,088 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Ares Capital by 52.7% during the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,354,097 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $28,192,000 after acquiring an additional 467,535 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allen Investment Management LLC increased its position in Ares Capital by 33.5% during the 1st quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 1,664,312 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $34,651,000 after purchasing an additional 417,537 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of Ares Capital stock opened at $21.02 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $20.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.20 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. Ares Capital Co. has a 52 week low of $18.55 and a 52 week high of $21.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The investment management company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $714.27 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.58 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.39 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.13%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ARCC. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Compass Point upgraded Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group upgraded Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.71.

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.