Invesco Ltd. Raises Holdings in Ares Capital Corporation $ARCC

Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 825.4% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,551,711 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,167,906 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $77,996,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital during the second quarter worth $877,203,000. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $58,084,000 after acquiring an additional 1,220,570 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Ares Capital by 18.6% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,404,876 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $140,651,000 after purchasing an additional 1,006,460 shares in the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp raised its stake in Ares Capital by 56.9% in the 2nd quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 2,342,324 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $51,437,000 after purchasing an additional 849,097 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital in the 1st quarter valued at about $14,766,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

NASDAQ ARCC opened at $21.03 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 2.20. Ares Capital Corporation has a 1-year low of $18.26 and a 1-year high of $23.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.52 and a beta of 0.59. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.42.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The investment management company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $766.48 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 45.16% and a return on equity of 10.08%. The company’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.58 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Ares Capital Corporation will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 96.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Capital

In other Ares Capital news, CEO Michael Kort Schnabel purchased 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 31st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $20.39 per share, with a total value of $265,070.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 28,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $570,920. This trade represents a 86.67% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ARCC. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Capital One Financial set a $22.50 price objective on Ares Capital in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Wall Street Zen raised Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Monday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.25.

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.