Banco Santander S.A. Invests $231,000 in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Banco Santander S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 10,550 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 230,654 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $5,049,000 after purchasing an additional 18,857 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,097,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its stake in Ares Capital by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 17,033 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $373,000 after buying an additional 2,263 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $58,159,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $48,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARCC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.94.

Ares Capital Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of ARCC opened at $22.45 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. Ares Capital Co. has a 12 month low of $19.32 and a 12 month high of $23.84. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $22.92 and its 200-day moving average is $21.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.07 billion, a PE ratio of 9.16 and a beta of 1.00.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

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 given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.55%. Ares Capital’s dividend 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.