Albion Financial Group UT Has $1.91 Million Stock Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Albion Financial Group UT lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 4.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 91,680 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 4,175 shares during the period. Albion Financial Group UT’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,909,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ARCC. Nemes Rush Group LLC acquired a new position in Ares Capital in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Pingora Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 93.9% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,922 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 931 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 218.7% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,960 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 1,345 shares during the period. Finally, Activest Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 137.2% in the fourth 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Ares Capital Price Performance

Ares Capital stock traded up $0.08 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $20.96. 1,336,080 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,535,074. The company’s fifty day moving average is $21.03 and its 200-day moving average is $20.53. The firm has a market cap of $12.88 billion, a PE ratio of 7.19 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. Ares Capital Co. has a 52 week low of $18.55 and a 52 week high of $21.84.

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

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.16%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 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.