Ascent Group LLC Decreases Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Ascent Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 15.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 44,675 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 7,950 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $935,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Ares Capital by 62.7% in the second quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,233 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Horizon Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC boosted its position in Ares Capital by 88.9% in the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 1,700 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARCC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. B. Riley upped their target price on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group raised shares of Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Ares Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $23.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.29.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.4 %

Ares Capital stock opened at $22.18 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $14.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.53 and a beta of 1.01. Ares Capital Co. has a 1 year low of $19.32 and a 1 year high of $22.30. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $21.41 and its 200-day moving average is $21.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $770.45 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 53.71%. Ares Capital’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio 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.