one8zero8 LLC Invests $8.43 Million in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

one8zero8 LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 385,064 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,429,000. Ares Capital accounts for about 1.8% of one8zero8 LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ARCC. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Ares Capital by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $309,649,000 after acquiring an additional 1,489,552 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Ares Capital by 3.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,387,097 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $70,926,000 after acquiring an additional 104,710 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth about $58,159,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in Ares Capital by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,314,269 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $50,659,000 after acquiring an additional 96,992 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CCLA Investment Management grew its position in Ares Capital by 31.6% in the fourth quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 2,211,955 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $48,419,000 after acquiring an additional 531,305 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on ARCC. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.94.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Ares Capital stock opened at $21.28 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.50 billion, a PE ratio of 8.69 and a beta of 1.00. Ares Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $19.32 and a fifty-two week high of $23.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.21. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $22.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.90.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 78.37%.

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.