Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires 2,000 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 17.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,500 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $296,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $84,426,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $58,159,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $309,649,000 after acquiring an additional 1,489,552 shares during the period. CCLA Investment Management raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 31.6% in the 4th quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 2,211,955 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $48,419,000 after acquiring an additional 531,305 shares during the period. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 48.6% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,400,539 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $30,658,000 after acquiring an additional 458,360 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on ARCC shares. Raymond James downgraded shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.94.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.1 %

Ares Capital stock opened at $21.76 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $14.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.88 and a beta of 1.00. Ares Capital Co. has a 1-year low of $19.32 and a 1-year high of $23.84. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.92. 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 (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. Research analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.