CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. Purchases Shares of 16,800 Ares Capital Corporation $ARCC

CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. purchased a new stake in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 16,800 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $372,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in ARCC. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 184.9% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 507,795 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $11,116,000 after purchasing an additional 329,571 shares during the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 12,027 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $263,000 after purchasing an additional 1,523 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter worth about $1,260,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 31.6% in the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 31,400 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $687,000 after purchasing an additional 7,547 shares during the last quarter. Finally, McGowan Group Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. McGowan Group Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,042,586 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $22,822,000 after purchasing an additional 3,907 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC opened at $22.44 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.89. The company has a market cap of $15.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.95 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. Ares Capital Corporation has a 12-month low of $18.26 and a 12-month high of $23.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $614.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $748.76 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 10.48% and a net margin of 44.94%.During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.61 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Ares Capital Corporation will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.6%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is 93.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ARCC has been the topic of several analyst reports. JMP Securities set a $23.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.86.

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.