Horizon Financial Services LLC Buys Shares of 1,342 Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Horizon Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 1,342 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in 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 lifted its holdings 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 valued at $243,434,000 after buying an additional 1,961,166 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 143.9% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 820,390 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $17,081,000 after buying 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, Boston Partners purchased a new stake in Ares Capital during the first quarter valued at $7,792,000. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of ARCC stock opened at $22.12 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Ares Capital Co. has a one year low of $19.32 and a one year high of $22.12. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $21.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.04. The company has a market capitalization of $14.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.47 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.68%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.85%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on ARCC. JMP Securities raised their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Monday, August 5th. B. Riley increased their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Compass Point raised shares of Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, UBS Group raised Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.86.

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.