Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. Invests $557,000 in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 25,430 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $557,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARCC. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth approximately $58,159,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. CCLA Investment Management increased its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 48.6% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,400,539 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $30,658,000 after acquiring an additional 458,360 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Columbus Macro LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth $8,870,000. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ARCC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James cut shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.94.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $21.75 on Thursday. Ares Capital Co. has a 12-month low of $19.32 and a 12-month high of $23.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.82 billion, a PE ratio of 8.88 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $22.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.91.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. Research analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 78.37%.

Ares Capital 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.