Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Sold by Webster Bank N. A.

Webster Bank N. A. reduced its holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 30.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,032 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 7,020 shares during the quarter. Webster Bank N. A.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $334,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ARCC. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $303,000. RFG Advisory LLC increased its stake in Ares Capital by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 23,675 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $474,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Ares Capital by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 243,961 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $4,887,000 after purchasing an additional 2,730 shares in the last quarter. Sandy Spring Bank increased its stake in Ares Capital by 208.4% in the 4th quarter. Sandy Spring Bank now owns 3,244 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 2,192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in Ares Capital by 461.6% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 242,147 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $4,850,000 after purchasing an additional 199,029 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARCC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. JMP Securities raised their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.50 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Compass Point raised Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.71.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Ares Capital stock traded up $0.07 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $20.50. 2,123,555 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,490,820. The company has a market capitalization of $12.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.02 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.63. Ares Capital Co. has a 12-month low of $18.55 and a 12-month high of $21.84. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.67.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The investment management company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $714.27 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.24% and a net margin of 59.76%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.58 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 12th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is currently 65.75%.

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.