Axa S.A. Invests $928,000 in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Axa S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 42,378 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $928,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 63,150 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,382,000 after purchasing an additional 6,045 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 49.5% during the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 163,695 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,583,000 after acquiring an additional 54,234 shares during the period. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at about $317,000. Lido Advisors LLC increased its position in Ares Capital by 16.5% during the fourth quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 353,577 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $7,740,000 after purchasing an additional 49,982 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in Ares Capital by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 233,456 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $5,110,000 after purchasing an additional 11,355 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARCC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Raymond James lowered shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.00.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of ARCC opened at $21.08 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. Ares Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $18.26 and a fifty-two week high of $23.84. The company has a market cap of $14.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.60 and a beta of 0.70. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $21.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.89.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $599.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $769.32 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.59 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.11%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 93.66%.

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.