Lane & Associates LLC Makes New $210,000 Investment in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Lane & Associates LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 8,891 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Horizon Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Ares Capital during the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 56.8% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,510 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 909 shares during the period. Montag A & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 92.6% during 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 last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 200.0% in the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 3,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new position in Ares Capital in the third quarter valued at $67,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC opened at $23.40 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $15.71 billion, a PE ratio of 9.55 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $22.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. Ares Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $19.32 and a fifty-two week high of $23.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share 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 expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is currently 78.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on ARCC shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. B. Riley raised their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.94.

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.