Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Sold by Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc.

Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. lessened its stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 32.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 18,059 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 8,602 shares during the period. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $395,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARCC. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 2,104.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,613,285 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $756,620,000 after acquiring an additional 3,449,395 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $272,107,000 after purchasing an additional 975,045 shares in the last quarter. CCLA Investment Management boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 31.6% in the fourth quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 2,211,955 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $48,419,000 after purchasing an additional 531,305 shares during the period. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the second quarter valued at approximately $9,815,000. Finally, Partners Group Holding AG increased its stake in Ares Capital by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter. Partners Group Holding AG now owns 1,787,401 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $37,428,000 after buying an additional 312,255 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $23.38 on Friday. Ares Capital Co. has a 12 month low of $19.32 and a 12 month high of $23.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.11 billion, a PE ratio of 8.99 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $22.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.35.

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

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.21%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on ARCC. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ares Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. B. Riley lifted their target price on 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 Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Three 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.29.

Ares Capital 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.