Transcend Capital Advisors LLC Buys 557 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Transcend Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 108,577 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 557 shares during the period. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $2,175,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 411.0% in the third quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 1,952 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,570 shares during the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 137.2% in the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 2,142 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 1,239 shares during the last quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 59.3% in the fourth quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC now owns 2,351 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.7 %

ARCC traded up $0.15 during trading on Friday, reaching $20.78. 2,640,447 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,468,332. The stock has a market cap of $12.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.78 and a beta of 1.00. Ares Capital Co. has a twelve month low of $17.53 and a twelve month high of $20.86. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $20.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The investment management company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.03. Ares Capital had a net margin of 58.22% and a return on equity of 12.50%. The firm had revenue of $707.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $669.78 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.68 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.24%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.91%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. B. Riley downgraded shares of Ares Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.80.

Ares Capital Company 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.