Romano Brothers AND Company Raises Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Romano Brothers AND Company grew its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 2.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 303,362 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,246 shares during the period. Ares Capital comprises 0.9% of Romano Brothers AND Company’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Romano Brothers AND Company’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $6,316,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nemes Rush Group LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Pingora Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ares Capital in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Ares Capital by 93.9% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,922 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 931 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in Ares Capital by 218.7% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,960 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 1,345 shares during the period. Finally, Activest Wealth Management raised its stake in Ares Capital by 137.2% during the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 2,142 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 1,239 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARCC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $21.50 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.50.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Ares Capital stock traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $20.84. The stock had a trading volume of 4,955,115 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,597,313. Ares Capital Co. has a one year low of $18.55 and a one year high of $21.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.14 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $21.03 and its 200 day moving average is $20.51.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The investment management company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $701.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $703.85 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.37% and a net margin of 62.77%. The business’s revenue was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.56 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.21%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is currently 65.75%.

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.