Ares Capital Corporation $ARCC Holdings Boosted by Muzinich & Co. Inc.

Muzinich & Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 19.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,640,113 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 267,062 shares during the quarter. Ares Capital comprises 12.9% of Muzinich & Co. Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Muzinich & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $33,475,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 40.5% during the 1st quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 12,334 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $273,000 after buying an additional 3,554 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Ares Capital by 1.8% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 913,430 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $20,242,000 after acquiring an additional 16,434 shares during the period. Calton & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Ares Capital in the first quarter worth $300,000. FJ Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 41.9% in the first quarter. FJ Capital Management LLC now owns 69,062 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,530,000 after acquiring an additional 20,387 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the 1st quarter worth $308,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ARCC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Capital One Financial set a $22.50 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Friday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $21.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.25.

Ares Capital Price Performance

ARCC stock opened at $20.17 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $20.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.25. The firm has a market cap of $14.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.09 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a current ratio of 2.20. Ares Capital Corporation has a 1 year low of $18.26 and a 1 year high of $23.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The investment management company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. The company had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $766.48 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 10.08% and a net margin of 45.16%.During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.58 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ares Capital Corporation will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 96.00%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Michael Kort Schnabel acquired 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $20.39 per share, for a total transaction of $265,070.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 28,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $570,920. This represents a 86.67% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ares Capital Profile

Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: ARCC) is a publicly traded business development company (BDC) that specializes in providing debt and equity financing solutions to U.S. middle-market companies. As a BDC, Ares Capital offers investors access to a diversified portfolio of tailored credit investments, including senior secured loans, unitranche financing, mezzanine debt and equity co-investments. The firm’s flexible capital structures are designed to support companies seeking growth capital, refinancing or strategic acquisitions.

Through its credit platform, Ares Capital focuses on originations, underwriting and portfolio management across a range of industries, with a particular emphasis on sectors such as healthcare, technology, industrials and business services.