Oxford Financial Group LTD. LLC Acquires New Stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Oxford Financial Group LTD. 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 & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 10,490 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $230,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Horizon Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 92.6% in the 4th quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 2,889 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 1,389 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Raymond James cut Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com cut Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.94.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.1 %

ARCC opened at $21.76 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.21. Ares Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $19.32 and a fifty-two week high of $23.84. The company has a fifty day moving average of $22.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.88 and a beta of 1.00.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued 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%. On average, research analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 78.37%.

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.