Ares Capital Corporation $ARCC Shares Acquired by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 14.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,260,403 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 155,995 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.18% of Ares Capital worth $27,678,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ARCC. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the second quarter worth about $877,203,000. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 87.2% during the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 2,621,109 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $58,084,000 after buying an additional 1,220,570 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the first quarter worth about $14,766,000. CCLA Investment Management grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 26.5% during the first quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 2,799,023 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $62,026,000 after buying an additional 587,068 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SCS Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the first quarter worth about $11,778,000. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC opened at $20.57 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. Ares Capital Corporation has a twelve month low of $18.26 and a twelve month high of $23.84. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $20.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.55. The stock has a market cap of $14.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.03 and a beta of 0.68.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The investment management company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.50. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 10.48% and a net margin of 44.94%.The business had revenue of $658.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $766.48 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.58 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Ares Capital Corporation will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is 93.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ARCC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen raised Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, October 19th. B. Riley raised Ares Capital from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $22.50 to $23.50 in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.63.

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.