Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC Raises Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 29.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,615 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,730 shares during the period. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $432,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 885,406 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $18,540,000 after buying an additional 38,559 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 1.7% in the third quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,836,573 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $80,338,000 after acquiring an additional 63,999 shares during the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Ares Capital by 32.5% in the third quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 211,797 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $4,435,000 after purchasing an additional 52,007 shares during the period. SteelPeak Wealth LLC increased its position in Ares Capital by 151.4% during the second quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 45,698 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $952,000 after purchasing an additional 27,523 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 681,724 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $14,275,000 after purchasing an additional 29,786 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.6 %

ARCC opened at $22.15 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $21.38 and its 200-day moving average is $21.07. Ares Capital Co. has a 52-week low of $19.32 and a 52-week high of $22.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.52 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $770.45 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 53.71% and a return on equity of 12.06%. Ares Capital’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.59 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.85%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on ARCC. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group raised Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ares Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $23.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, B. Riley boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ares Capital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.29.

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.