Xcel Wealth Management LLC Purchases 3,750 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Xcel Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 31.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,650 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,750 shares during the quarter. Xcel Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $328,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Ares Capital by 62.7% during the 2nd quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,233 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares during the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 323.3% in the first quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 1,435 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 1,096 shares during the period. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 88.9% in the second 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on ARCC. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Monday, August 5th. JMP Securities raised their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group upgraded Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Compass Point upgraded Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.71.

Ares Capital Stock Down 0.4 %

ARCC traded down $0.09 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $21.63. 1,331,393 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,391,056. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.29 billion, a PE ratio of 7.41 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $20.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.89. Ares Capital Co. has a 1 year low of $18.55 and a 1 year high of $21.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The investment management company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.03. Ares Capital had a net margin of 59.76% and a return on equity of 12.24%. The business had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $714.27 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.58 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.39 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.88%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.75%.

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.