15,600 Shares in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Bought by Principal Street Partners LLC

Principal Street Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 15,600 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $327,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Ares Capital by 62.7% in the 2nd quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,233 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the period. Asset Dedication LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Horizon Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital during the third quarter valued at $28,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the second quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 88.9% during the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 1,700 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Compass Point upgraded Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. JMP Securities lifted their price target on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. StockNews.com raised Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, B. Riley upped their price target 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.86.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of ARCC stock opened at $22.00 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. Ares Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $19.32 and a fifty-two week high of $22.15. The company has a market capitalization of $14.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.46 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $21.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.05.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $770.45 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 53.71% and a return on equity of 12.06%. Ares Capital’s revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. Analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.73%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.85%.

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.