Harbour Investments Inc. Purchases 6,253 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 14.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 50,623 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,253 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,108,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at about $519,000. Round Rock Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth about $1,512,000. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in Ares Capital by 5.3% during 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 buying an additional 25,347 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Ares Capital by 24.3% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 650,163 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $13,900,000 after buying an additional 127,219 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Ares Capital by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 43,056 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $942,000 after buying an additional 1,945 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ARCC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Raymond James downgraded shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.94.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $21.82 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $22.87 and a 200 day moving average of $21.92. The stock has a market cap of $14.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.91 and a beta of 1.00. Ares Capital Co. has a 12 month low of $19.32 and a 12 month high of $23.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.80%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.