Wintrust Investments LLC Trims Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Wintrust Investments LLC decreased its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 27.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,620 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 1,395 shares during the period. Wintrust Investments LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $79,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Erste Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 484.1% during the fourth quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH now owns 184,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $4,037,000 after buying an additional 152,500 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in Ares Capital by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 105,866 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,317,000 after purchasing an additional 2,629 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC raised its stake in Ares Capital by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 173,195 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,791,000 after purchasing an additional 9,311 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ares Capital by 20.4% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 49,345 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,080,000 after purchasing an additional 8,344 shares during the period. Finally, PFG Advisors raised its stake in Ares Capital by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 55,360 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,212,000 after purchasing an additional 2,181 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued 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 an average price target of $22.94.

Ares Capital Price Performance

ARCC opened at $21.44 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.89. The firm has a market cap of $14.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.75 and a beta of 1.00. Ares Capital Co. has a twelve month low of $19.32 and a twelve month high of $23.84. 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 quarterly 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 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.