Baugh & Associates LLC Increases Position in Ares Capital Corporation $ARCC

Baugh & Associates LLC grew its position in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 32.0% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 304,122 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 73,672 shares during the period. Ares Capital accounts for approximately 2.4% of Baugh & Associates LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest position. Baugh & Associates LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $5,480,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Ares Capital by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 17,558,581 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $355,210,000 after purchasing an additional 341,578 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 41.8% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 11,201,905 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $226,615,000 after buying an additional 3,301,890 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 8,678,129 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $190,572,000 after buying an additional 705,882 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,408,067 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $109,432,000 after buying an additional 761,838 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 4,387,637 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $88,762,000 after buying an additional 63,796 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of ARCC opened at $18.03 on Monday. Ares Capital Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $17.40 and a fifty-two week high of $23.42. The company has a market capitalization of $12.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.06 and a beta of 0.56. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The investment management company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $763.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $778.00 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 37.30%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Corporation will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 117.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ARCC shares. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $19.00 target price (down from $20.00) on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Friday, June 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.65.

About Ares Capital

Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: ARCC) is a publicly traded business development company (BDC) that specializes in providing debt and equity financing solutions to U.S. middle-market companies. As a BDC, Ares Capital offers investors access to a diversified portfolio of tailored credit investments, including senior secured loans, unitranche financing, mezzanine debt and equity co-investments. The firm’s flexible capital structures are designed to support companies seeking growth capital, refinancing or strategic acquisitions.

Through its credit platform, Ares Capital focuses on originations, underwriting and portfolio management across a range of industries, with a particular emphasis on sectors such as healthcare, technology, industrials and business services.