Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its position in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 4.0% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 397,694 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,448 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $8,813,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Ares Capital by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 7,951,926 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $174,068,000 after acquiring an additional 871,370 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Ares Capital by 26.0% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,268,547 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $93,439,000 after acquiring an additional 881,450 shares during the period. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new stake in Ares Capital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $84,426,000. Advisors Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Ares Capital by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 3,523,651 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $77,133,000 after acquiring an additional 105,526 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP grew its stake in Ares Capital by 81.0% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,678,525 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $58,633,000 after acquiring an additional 1,198,580 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $21.47 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.47 and a beta of 0.68. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.92. Ares Capital Corporation has a twelve month low of $18.26 and a twelve month high of $23.84.

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

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.94%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 93.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on ARCC shares. UBS Group lowered their target price 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. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target 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. B. Riley upgraded shares of Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target 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 price target 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 issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.