Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Sold by Salem Investment Counselors Inc.

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lessened its stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 23.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 227,140 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 71,365 shares during the quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $4,972,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 24.3% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 650,163 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $13,900,000 after purchasing an additional 127,219 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 885,406 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $18,540,000 after acquiring an additional 38,559 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,836,573 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $80,338,000 after acquiring an additional 63,999 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 25.1% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 222,101 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $4,651,000 after acquiring an additional 44,548 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 32.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 211,797 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $4,435,000 after acquiring an additional 52,007 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Ares Capital stock remained flat at $21.98 during midday trading on Monday. 1,667,602 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,961,891. Ares Capital Co. has a 12-month low of $19.32 and a 12-month high of $22.43. The stock has a market cap of $14.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.45 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.23.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.45 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 53.71%. 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 firm posted $0.59 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.74%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is currently 73.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on ARCC. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Ares Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. B. Riley lifted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.