UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Buys New Stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp purchased a new stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 9,458 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $309,649,000 after buying an additional 1,489,552 shares during the period. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new position in Ares Capital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $84,426,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Ares Capital by 3.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,387,097 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $70,926,000 after acquiring an additional 104,710 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $58,159,000. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its stake in Ares Capital by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,314,269 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $50,659,000 after buying an additional 96,992 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $22.36 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.24 billion, a PE ratio of 9.13 and a beta of 1.00. Ares Capital Co. has a 52 week low of $19.32 and a 52 week high of $23.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $22.82 and a 200-day moving average of $21.96.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. Analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS 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 $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.59%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is currently 78.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on ARCC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.94.

Ares Capital Company 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.