Golden State Wealth Management LLC Makes New $421,000 Investment in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 19,248 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $421,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 8.3% in 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 buying an additional 975,045 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,836,573 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $80,338,000 after acquiring an additional 63,999 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 2,104.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,613,285 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $756,620,000 after purchasing an additional 3,449,395 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Ares Capital by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,387,097 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $70,926,000 after purchasing an additional 104,710 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its stake in Ares Capital by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,314,269 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $50,659,000 after purchasing an additional 96,992 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. B. Riley boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James cut shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.94.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of Ares Capital stock opened at $22.74 on Friday. Ares Capital Co. has a 52-week low of $19.32 and a 52-week high of $23.84. 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 $14.69 billion, a PE ratio of 8.75 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $22.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.53.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a net margin of 53.71% and a return on equity of 12.06%. On average, analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.44%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 78.37%.

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.