Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 16,112 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 60.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,958 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,112 shares during the quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $940,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new position in Ares Capital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $84,426,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth $58,159,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $309,649,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489,552 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 26.0% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,268,547 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $93,439,000 after purchasing an additional 881,450 shares during the period. Finally, CCLA Investment Management lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 31.6% during the 4th quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 2,211,955 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $48,419,000 after purchasing an additional 531,305 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Stock Down 7.2 %

Shares of ARCC opened at $19.97 on Friday. Ares Capital Co. has a 1 year low of $19.32 and a 1 year high of $23.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.01. The firm has a market cap of $13.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.15 and a beta of 0.77.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. On average, analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.61%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 78.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ARCC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James cut shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.94.

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.