Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Takes $3.19 Million Position in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new position in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 144,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,191,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARCC. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in Ares Capital by 0.7% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 241,119 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $5,343,000 after buying an additional 1,776 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 18.2% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 47,840 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,058,000 after buying an additional 7,381 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 23,571.4% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,314 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 3,300 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Ares Capital by 2,116.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 13,274 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,940,000 after acquiring an additional 12,675 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans bought a new stake in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth about $314,000. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC opened at $22.54 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $15.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.00 and a beta of 0.67. Ares Capital Corporation has a twelve month low of $18.26 and a twelve month high of $23.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The company has a 50 day moving average of $22.19 and a 200 day moving average of $22.05.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.05% and a net margin of 43.50%. The business had revenue of $614.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $748.76 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.61 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Ares Capital Corporation will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.52%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 93.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ARCC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. B. Riley raised Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. UBS Group upped their price target on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.21.

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.