Kentucky Trust Co Acquires New Stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 16,313 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $357,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Ares Capital by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 19,148 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $419,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 1.2% in the third quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 43,609 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $913,000 after buying an additional 531 shares during the period. Western Financial Corp CA increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Western Financial Corp CA now owns 26,387 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $578,000 after buying an additional 564 shares during the period. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 37,086 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $812,000 after buying an additional 567 shares during the period. Finally, Tyche Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC now owns 16,455 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $360,000 after buying an additional 578 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on ARCC. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com cut Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. 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 research note on Friday, February 7th. B. Riley raised their target price on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. 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 MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.94.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of ARCC opened at $22.70 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $22.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.56. Ares Capital Co. has a 52 week low of $19.32 and a 52 week high of $23.84. The stock has a market cap of $15.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.27 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.2 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.46%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is currently 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.