SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC Lowers Stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC lessened its holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 83,399 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 1,481 shares during the quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,826,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 2,104.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,613,285 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $756,620,000 after purchasing an additional 3,449,395 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Ares Capital by 8.3% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 12,656,154 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $272,107,000 after buying an additional 975,045 shares during the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital during the second quarter valued at $9,815,000. Partners Group Holding AG boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 21.2% in the third quarter. Partners Group Holding AG now owns 1,787,401 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $37,428,000 after acquiring an additional 312,255 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Granite FO LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the second quarter worth $4,959,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ARCC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. B. Riley lifted their price target on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ares Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. 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 given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.29.

Ares Capital Price Performance

ARCC opened at $22.43 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $21.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.24. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $14.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.63 and a beta of 1.00. Ares Capital Co. has a 52-week low of $19.32 and a 52-week high of $22.43.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). Ares Capital had a net margin of 53.71% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The company had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.45 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.56%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.85%.

About Ares Capital

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.