Franklin Resources Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 24.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 650,163 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 127,219 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $13,900,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 2,104.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,613,285 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $756,620,000 after acquiring an additional 3,449,395 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Ares Capital by 20.2% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 11,681,109 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $243,434,000 after purchasing an additional 1,961,166 shares during the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital during the second quarter worth approximately $9,815,000. Partners Group Holding AG lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter. Partners Group Holding AG now owns 1,787,401 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $37,428,000 after buying an additional 312,255 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 3,492,247 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $72,778,000 after buying an additional 273,025 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on ARCC. B. Riley raised their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Ares Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com raised Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, UBS Group raised Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.29.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Ares Capital stock opened at $21.38 on Friday. Ares Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $19.32 and a fifty-two week high of $22.43. The company has a market capitalization of $13.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.22 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $21.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 53.71%. The company had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $770.45 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.59 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.98%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.85%.

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.