14,544 Shares in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Purchased by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans purchased a new position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 14,544 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $314,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. PDS Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth $287,000. Delphi Management Inc. MA grew its position in Ares Capital by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Delphi Management Inc. MA now owns 73,215 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,603,000 after purchasing an additional 3,142 shares during the period. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Ares Capital during the 4th quarter worth about $557,000. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 57,383 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,256,000 after buying an additional 6,820 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 50,623 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,108,000 after buying an additional 6,253 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $19.97 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $13.67 billion, a PE ratio of 8.15 and a beta of 0.77. 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 fifty day moving average of $22.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.61%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.