Argent Trust Co Has $2.65 Million Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

by · The Markets Daily

Argent Trust Co lifted its position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC – Free Report) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 120,981 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 1,165 shares during the quarter. Argent Trust Co’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $2,648,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ARCC. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 11,291 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $236,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in Ares Capital in the 3rd quarter worth about $576,000. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 10.9% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 73,741 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,544,000 after buying an additional 7,236 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its position in Ares Capital by 3.2% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 60,464 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,266,000 after purchasing an additional 1,866 shares during the period. Finally, TCW Group Inc. grew its stake in Ares Capital by 7.6% during the third quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 714,971 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $14,971,000 after buying an additional 50,538 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ares Capital Stock Down 4.9 %

Shares of ARCC opened at $19.84 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $22.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.98. Ares Capital Co. has a 12 month low of $18.26 and a 12 month high of $23.84. The company has a market capitalization of $13.58 billion, a PE ratio of 8.10 and a beta of 0.77. 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 – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. On average, analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current 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 issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.68%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 78.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ARCC shares. Raymond James downgraded shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.81.

Get Our Latest Research Report on Ares Capital

Ares Capital Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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