International Assets Investment Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

International Assets Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 95.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 180,878 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 3,432,407 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $4,017,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Ares Capital by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 12,656,154 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $272,107,000 after buying an additional 975,045 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC increased its position in Ares Capital by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,836,573 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $80,338,000 after purchasing an additional 63,999 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in Ares Capital by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 3,492,247 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $72,778,000 after purchasing an additional 273,025 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,387,097 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $70,926,000 after buying an additional 104,710 shares during the period. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 3.7% during the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,217,277 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $46,430,000 after purchasing an additional 79,074 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of ARCC stock traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $22.04. 667,593 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,258,519. The firm has a market cap of $14.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.48 and a beta of 1.00. Ares Capital Co. has a twelve month low of $19.32 and a twelve month high of $22.43. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $21.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $770.45 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 53.71% and a return on equity of 12.06%. Ares Capital’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ARCC has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. B. Riley raised their target price on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Ares Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.29.

Ares Capital 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.