Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) CEO Acquires $265,070.00 in Stock

Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) CEO Michael Kort Schnabel bought 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 31st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $20.39 per share, for a total transaction of $265,070.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 28,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $570,920. This represents a 86.67% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Ares Capital Price Performance

ARCC traded up $0.06 during trading on Monday, reaching $20.41. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,227,399 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,744,502. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.56. Ares Capital Corporation has a 1 year low of $18.26 and a 1 year high of $23.84. The company has a market cap of $14.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.21 and a beta of 0.68.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The investment management company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.50. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 10.08% and a net margin of 45.16%.The company had revenue of $658.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $766.48 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.58 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Corporation will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is 96.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Capital

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Aurora Private Wealth Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Aurora Private Wealth Inc. now owns 28,983 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $636,000 after acquiring an additional 436 shares during the period. Community Trust & Investment Co. raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Community Trust & Investment Co. now owns 150,072 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,296,000 after acquiring an additional 454 shares during the period. Prostatis Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Prostatis Group LLC now owns 21,768 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $482,000 after acquiring an additional 457 shares during the period. Fountainhead AM LLC raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Fountainhead AM LLC now owns 9,728 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $214,000 after acquiring an additional 511 shares during the period. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 17,236 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $379,000 after acquiring an additional 516 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ARCC. JMP Securities set a $23.00 target price on Ares Capital and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $21.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. UBS Group cut their target price on Ares Capital from $22.50 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Thursday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.25.

Ares Capital Company 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.