Cape Investment Advisory Inc. Sells 4,034 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Cape Investment Advisory Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 50.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,900 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 4,034 shares during the period. Cape Investment Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $81,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth $363,000. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC raised its position in Ares Capital by 59.3% during the fourth quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC now owns 2,351 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the period. Camelot Portfolios LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Camelot Portfolios LLC now owns 13,388 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $268,000 after buying an additional 1,098 shares during the period. Autumn Glory Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth approximately $253,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Ares Capital by 1,865.8% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,214,991 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $844,260,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000,570 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on ARCC. JMP Securities increased their target price on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Compass Point upgraded Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.50 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.71.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of Ares Capital stock traded down $0.54 on Friday, hitting $20.29. The company had a trading volume of 6,910,758 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,691,426. Ares Capital Co. has a 52 week low of $18.55 and a 52 week high of $21.84. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The company has a market cap of $12.79 billion, a PE ratio of 6.95 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The investment management company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $714.27 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 59.76% and a return on equity of 12.24%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.58 EPS. Research analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 12th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.75%.

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.