Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 60.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 42,958 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 16,112 shares during the quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $940,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new position in Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at about $84,426,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $58,159,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $309,649,000 after acquiring an additional 1,489,552 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Ares Capital by 26.0% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,268,547 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $93,439,000 after acquiring an additional 881,450 shares during the period. Finally, CCLA Investment Management boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 31.6% in the fourth quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 2,211,955 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $48,419,000 after acquiring an additional 531,305 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Capital Price Performance

ARCC opened at $19.97 on Friday. Ares Capital Co. has a 1 year low of $19.32 and a 1 year high of $23.84. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $22.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $22.01. The firm has a market cap of $13.67 billion, a PE ratio of 8.15 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. Sell-side analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 78.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on ARCC. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James downgraded Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.94.

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.