Ares Capital Corporation $ARCC Shares Purchased by J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 13.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 109,072 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,341 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $2,395,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the second quarter valued at $29,000. Elequin Capital LP acquired a new stake in Ares Capital in the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. CNB Bank purchased a new stake in Ares Capital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 2nd quarter worth about $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on ARCC shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. JMP Securities set a $23.00 price objective on Ares Capital and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $21.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.25.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Michael Kort Schnabel acquired 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The shares were bought at an average price of $20.39 per share, for a total transaction of $265,070.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 28,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $570,920. This trade represents a 86.67% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC opened at $20.51 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $20.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.48. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Ares Capital Corporation has a 12-month low of $18.26 and a 12-month high of $23.84. The company has a market cap of $14.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.26 and a beta of 0.68.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The investment management company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.50. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 10.08% and a net margin of 45.16%.The company had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $766.48 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.58 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Corporation will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.4%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 96.00%.

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.