WESPAC Advisors LLC Has $844,000 Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

WESPAC Advisors LLC grew its position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 8.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,565 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 3,168 shares during the quarter. WESPAC Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $844,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 103,049 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,842 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 629 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 312,929 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $6,553,000 after purchasing an additional 20,189 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 681,724 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $14,275,000 after purchasing an additional 29,786 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ares Capital Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $23.30 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $22.61 and its 200-day moving average is $21.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.21. Ares Capital Co. has a 52 week low of $19.32 and a 52 week high of $23.84. The firm has a market cap of $15.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.51 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 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%. Equities analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 78.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. 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 report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.94.

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.