Neuberger Berman Group LLC Buys 74,285 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Neuberger Berman Group LLC lifted its stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 10.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 799,512 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 74,285 shares during the quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $17,501,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ARCC. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Ares Capital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $519,000. Round Rock Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth $1,512,000. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 507,374 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $11,208,000 after purchasing an additional 25,347 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 24.3% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 650,163 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $13,900,000 after buying an additional 127,219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 4.7% in the 4th 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 period. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Raymond James lowered shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.81.

Ares Capital Price Performance

ARCC stock opened at $19.84 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.98. Ares Capital Co. has a 52 week low of $18.26 and a 52 week high of $23.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.10 and a beta of 0.77.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly 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%. Analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 78.37%.

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.