Summit Financial LLC Makes New $830,000 Investment in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Summit Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 37,931 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $830,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Ares Capital by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $309,649,000 after acquiring an additional 1,489,552 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 26.0% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,268,547 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $93,439,000 after purchasing an additional 881,450 shares in the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $84,426,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $58,159,000. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,314,269 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $50,659,000 after buying an additional 96,992 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARCC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.94.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of Ares Capital stock opened at $22.41 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $22.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.34 billion, a PE ratio of 9.15 and a beta of 1.00. Ares Capital Co. has a 12 month low of $19.32 and a 12 month high of $23.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.57%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.37%.

Ares Capital 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.