Griffin Asset Management Inc. Buys 746 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Griffin Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 64,355 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 746 shares during the quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,409,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 39.7% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 20,510 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $441,000 after acquiring an additional 5,832 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the second quarter worth about $2,083,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 2.3% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 177,553 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,700,000 after buying an additional 4,030 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Ares Capital by 25.4% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 79,918 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,665,000 after purchasing an additional 16,184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 2.1% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 137,274 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,861,000 after buying an additional 2,888 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ares Capital Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC opened at $23.30 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $15.05 billion, a PE ratio of 8.96 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Ares Capital Co. has a 1 year low of $19.32 and a 1 year high of $23.53.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a net margin of 53.71% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The company had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.45 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.24%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.85%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ARCC. Wells Fargo & Company raised Ares Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com raised Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, B. Riley raised their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.29.

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.