Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. Acquires New Shares in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 25,430 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $557,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in Ares Capital by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 57,383 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,256,000 after buying an additional 6,820 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. increased its position in Ares Capital by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 50,623 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,108,000 after buying an additional 6,253 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth $516,000. one8zero8 LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth $8,429,000. Finally, Copperwynd Financial LLC increased its position in Ares Capital by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 160,177 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,506,000 after buying an additional 12,793 shares in 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 have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James downgraded Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One equities 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.94.

Ares Capital Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC opened at $21.75 on Thursday. 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 $14.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.88 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.21. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.91.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share (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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 78.37%.

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.