Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Sold by HM Payson & Co.

HM Payson & Co. cut its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 13.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,361 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 966 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $133,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Ares Capital by 62.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 475 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 32,691 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $681,000 after buying an additional 499 shares during the period. JBR Co Financial Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 1.5% in the third quarter. JBR Co Financial Management Inc now owns 33,047 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $692,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 1.2% in the third quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 43,609 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $913,000 after buying an additional 531 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Ares Capital by 3.9% during the second quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 14,428 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $301,000 after acquiring an additional 542 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on ARCC shares. B. Riley boosted their price target on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. JMP Securities upped 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 raised Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Compass Point raised shares of Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.86.

Ares Capital Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of ARCC opened at $21.00 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $21.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.94. Ares Capital Co. has a one year low of $19.24 and a one year high of $22.05. 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 $13.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.08 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $770.45 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.31% and a net margin of 53.71%. Ares Capital’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.14%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 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.