Heritage Trust Co Purchases New Shares in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Heritage Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 20,185 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $442,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ARCC. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter worth $48,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at about $60,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 92.6% during the fourth quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 2,889 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 1,389 shares during the period. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 200.0% during the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 3,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.4 %

ARCC stock opened at $19.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.97. Ares Capital Co. has a 12 month low of $18.26 and a 12 month high of $23.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.63 billion, a PE ratio of 8.13 and a beta of 0.77.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its 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 net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. Equities 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 78.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARCC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.81.

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.