Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Bought by Commerce Bank

Commerce Bank boosted its position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 57.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 49,348 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,000 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,080,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARCC. Montag & Caldwell LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 4th quarter worth $48,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at about $60,000. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 92.6% in the fourth quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 2,889 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC opened at $20.40 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.94. 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 has a market cap of $13.96 billion, a PE ratio of 8.33 and a beta of 0.77. Ares Capital Co. has a 12 month low of $18.26 and a 12 month high of $23.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.41%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 78.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on ARCC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James cut Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.61.

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.