Summit Trail Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 9,660 Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Summit Trail Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 9,660 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $211,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ARCC. Griffin Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 63,609 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,332,000 after purchasing an additional 767 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 7.6% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 30,749 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $644,000 after buying an additional 2,184 shares during the last quarter. FLC Capital Advisors raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 50.4% in the third quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 28,899 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $605,000 after buying an additional 9,683 shares during the last quarter. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ares Capital during the third quarter worth about $243,000. Finally, Secure Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Ares Capital by 35.3% during the third quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 14,704 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $308,000 after acquiring an additional 3,840 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of ARCC opened at $22.91 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $22.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.57. Ares Capital Co. has a 12-month low of $19.32 and a 12-month 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. The firm has a market cap of $15.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.35 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.38%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 78.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on ARCC shares. B. Riley increased their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. StockNews.com lowered Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Raymond James cut shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.