Generali Asset Management SPA SGR Makes New $84.43 Million Investment in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 3,856,848 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,426,000. Ares Capital comprises 2.2% of Generali Asset Management SPA SGR’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR owned about 0.57% of Ares Capital at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position 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 valued at $309,649,000 after buying an additional 1,489,552 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 3.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,387,097 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $70,926,000 after buying an additional 104,710 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $58,159,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,314,269 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $50,659,000 after buying an additional 96,992 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CCLA Investment Management raised its position 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 valued at $48,419,000 after buying an additional 531,305 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARCC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price 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. Raymond James downgraded shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective 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. 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 research note on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.94.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of ARCC stock opened at $21.65 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.76 billion, a PE ratio of 8.84 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.91. 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 twelve month low of $19.32 and a twelve month high of $23.84.

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 net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.87%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.