Merit Financial Group LLC Has $9.72 Million Stock Holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Merit Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 444,165 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 565 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC owned 0.07% of Ares Capital worth $9,723,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 5.0% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,491,495 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $31,083,000 after purchasing an additional 71,393 shares during the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Ares Capital by 11.1% during the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 159,825 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,331,000 after buying an additional 16,007 shares during the period. Merriman Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Ares Capital by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Merriman Wealth Management LLC now owns 31,607 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $659,000 after acquiring an additional 1,144 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in Ares Capital by 10.6% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 49,405 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,030,000 after acquiring an additional 4,749 shares during the period. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 0.8% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,365,540 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $28,458,000 after purchasing an additional 11,443 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. B. Riley raised their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Ares Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.29.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ ARCC opened at $23.18 on Friday. Ares Capital Co. has a one year low of $19.32 and a one year high of $23.22. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.92 and a beta of 1.00.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 the consensus estimate of $770.45 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 53.71% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The business’s revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. Research analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

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 was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.28%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.85%.

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.