J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Sells 4,142 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. decreased its holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 8.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 45,032 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 4,142 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $986,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 56.8% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,510 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 909 shares in the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new stake in Ares Capital in the third quarter worth about $202,000. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in Ares Capital by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 964,643 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $20,200,000 after acquiring an additional 103,049 shares in the last quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $392,000. Finally, Venture Visionary Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC now owns 22,105 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $463,000 after acquiring an additional 1,081 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on ARCC. Raymond James lowered Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. 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 research report on Friday, February 7th. B. Riley lifted their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.94.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC opened at $23.35 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $22.53 and a 200 day moving average of $21.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. Ares Capital Co. has a twelve month low of $19.32 and a twelve month high of $23.84. The firm has a market cap of $15.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.53 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.22%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.