Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Sold by Focus Financial Network Inc.

Focus Financial Network Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 144,479 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 11,752 shares during the quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $3,025,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. SteelPeak Wealth LLC increased its stake in Ares Capital by 151.4% in the second quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 45,698 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $952,000 after purchasing an additional 27,523 shares during the period. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. increased its stake in Ares Capital by 4.6% in the third quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 681,724 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $14,275,000 after purchasing an additional 29,786 shares during the period. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ares Capital in the third quarter valued at $2,101,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in Ares Capital by 206.7% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 55,516 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,156,000 after purchasing an additional 37,412 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Ares Capital by 7.8% in the first quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 3,099,134 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $64,524,000 after purchasing an additional 223,245 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on ARCC shares. B. Riley lifted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group raised shares of Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Monday, August 5th. JMP Securities lifted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Compass Point raised shares of Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.86.

Ares Capital Stock Down 0.7 %

ARCC stock opened at $21.00 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $13.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.08 and a beta of 1.01. Ares Capital Co. has a 52 week low of $19.24 and a 52 week high of $22.05. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $21.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a net margin of 53.71% and a return on equity of 12.31%. The business had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $770.45 million. During the same period 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. On average, research analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.85%.

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.