Ares Capital Corporation $ARCC Shares Purchased by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 22.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,306,095 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 2,418,984 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned 1.85% of Ares Capital worth $246,562,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Foresight Capital Management Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Ares Capital by 17.2% during the second quarter. Foresight Capital Management Advisors Inc. now owns 345,778 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $6,407,000 after purchasing an additional 50,624 shares during the period. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the second quarter valued at approximately $747,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 53.5% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 240,483 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $4,333,000 after purchasing an additional 83,841 shares during the period. Spinnaker Trust lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 1,210,941 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $24,497,000 after buying an additional 176,040 shares in the last quarter. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 901,098 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $18,229,000 after buying an additional 79,736 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ARCC. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective (down from $20.00) on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Friday, June 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Ares Capital from $19.00 to $18.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Wall Street Zen cut Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.40.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

NASDAQ ARCC opened at $19.95 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28. Ares Capital Corporation has a 1 year low of $17.40 and a 1 year high of $22.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.32 billion, a PE ratio of 14.78 and a beta of 0.56.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The investment management company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Ares Capital had a net margin of 30.91% and a return on equity of 9.80%. The firm had revenue of $768.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $770.19 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. Analysts predict that Ares Capital Corporation will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 142.22%.

Ares Capital Company Profile

Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: ARCC) is a publicly traded business development company (BDC) that specializes in providing debt and equity financing solutions to U.S. middle-market companies. As a BDC, Ares Capital offers investors access to a diversified portfolio of tailored credit investments, including senior secured loans, unitranche financing, mezzanine debt and equity co-investments. The firm’s flexible capital structures are designed to support companies seeking growth capital, refinancing or strategic acquisitions.

Through its credit platform, Ares Capital focuses on originations, underwriting and portfolio management across a range of industries, with a particular emphasis on sectors such as healthcare, technology, industrials and business services.