Kentucky Trust Co Invests $357,000 in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 16,313 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $357,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth approximately $519,000. Round Rock Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,512,000. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 507,374 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $11,208,000 after purchasing an additional 25,347 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 24.3% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 650,163 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $13,900,000 after purchasing an additional 127,219 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 4.6% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 885,406 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $18,540,000 after acquiring an additional 38,559 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC opened at $22.70 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.56. Ares Capital Co. has a 1-year low of $19.32 and a 1-year high of $23.84. The firm has a market cap of $15.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.27 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.29 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. Analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is currently 78.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on ARCC shares. B. Riley increased their price target on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James downgraded Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.94.

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.