Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Sold by Private Advisor Group LLC

Private Advisor Group LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 31.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 235,592 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 107,733 shares during the quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $4,719,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ARCC. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 1,865.8% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,214,991 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $844,260,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000,570 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,282,079 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $165,890,000 after buying an additional 840,823 shares during the last quarter. Melia Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth approximately $13,992,000. Tudor Investment Corp Et Al acquired a new position in Ares Capital in the 3rd quarter valued at $11,952,000. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 484.3% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 699,265 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $13,615,000 after purchasing an additional 579,582 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of ARCC opened at $20.92 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.16 and a beta of 0.99. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $20.11. Ares Capital Co. has a twelve month low of $18.00 and a twelve month high of $21.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The investment management company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $701.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $703.85 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 62.77% and a return on equity of 12.37%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 13th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 65.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.50 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.43.

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.