Advisors Asset Management Inc. Purchases 31,485 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 9.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 353,718 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,485 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $7,407,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 8.3% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 12,656,154 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $272,107,000 after acquiring an additional 975,045 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 1.7% during the third quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,836,573 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $80,338,000 after acquiring an additional 63,999 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 3,449,395 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 8.5% during the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 3,492,247 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $72,778,000 after acquiring an additional 273,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 3.7% during the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,217,277 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $46,430,000 after acquiring an additional 79,074 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ARCC shares. JMP Securities upped their target price on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group upgraded Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. B. Riley upped their target price on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ares Capital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.86.

Ares Capital Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of ARCC opened at $21.79 on Thursday. Ares Capital Co. has a 52-week low of $19.32 and a 52-week high of $22.05. The company has a market capitalization of $14.08 billion, a PE ratio of 8.38 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $21.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

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

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.85%.

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.