First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Makes New $202,000 Investment in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 9,639 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Ares Capital by 62.7% in the second quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,233 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 323.3% during the 1st quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 1,435 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 1,096 shares during the period. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital in the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC grew its position in Ares Capital by 88.9% in the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 1,700 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group raised Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Compass Point raised shares of Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ares Capital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.71.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.3 %

ARCC opened at $21.72 on Tuesday. Ares Capital Co. has a 1-year low of $18.55 and a 1-year high of $21.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.35 billion, a PE ratio of 7.44 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $20.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.88.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The investment management company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.03. Ares Capital had a net margin of 59.76% and a return on equity of 12.24%. The business had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $714.27 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.58 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.84%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is currently 65.75%.

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.