Acorn Creek Capital LLC Grows Stake in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Acorn Creek Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 26.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,408 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,191 shares during the quarter. Acorn Creek Capital LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $341,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Montag & Caldwell LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. PSI Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ares Capital by 121.1% during the 1st quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 2,100 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at about $48,000. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at about $60,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $21.49 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $21.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40. Ares Capital Corporation has a 1-year low of $18.26 and a 1-year high of $23.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.48 and a beta of 0.68.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.04). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.05% and a net margin of 43.50%. The company had revenue of $599.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $769.32 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Ares Capital Corporation will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.93%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 93.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARCC has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.00.

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.