International Assets Investment Management LLC Buys 3,449,395 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 2,104.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,613,285 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 3,449,395 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.59% of Ares Capital worth $756,620,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC grew its position in Ares Capital by 5.7% during the third quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 48,175 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,009,000 after buying an additional 2,587 shares during the period. TFG Advisers LLC grew its position in Ares Capital by 53.9% during the third quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 40,869 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $856,000 after buying an additional 14,320 shares during the period. Plan Group Financial LLC grew its position in Ares Capital by 11.8% during the third quarter. Plan Group Financial LLC now owns 46,764 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $979,000 after buying an additional 4,935 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its position in Ares Capital by 6.9% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 312,929 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $6,553,000 after buying an additional 20,189 shares during the period. Finally, FSC Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Ares Capital by 562.5% during the third quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,300 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $111,000 after buying an additional 4,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ARCC. UBS Group upgraded shares of Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of 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 reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Compass Point upgraded shares of Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.71.

Ares Capital Price Performance

ARCC stock opened at $21.50 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $20.92 and a 200-day moving average of $20.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. Ares Capital Co. has a 12 month low of $18.59 and a 12 month high of $21.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.36 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The investment management company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.03. Ares Capital had a net margin of 59.76% and a return on equity of 12.24%. The company had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $714.27 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.58 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.93%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.