Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. Cuts Stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. lessened its holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 16.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,747 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 2,320 shares during the period. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $235,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ARCC. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Ares Capital by 1,865.8% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,214,991 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $844,260,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000,570 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Ares Capital by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,282,079 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $165,890,000 after buying an additional 840,823 shares during the last quarter. Melia Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at $13,992,000. Tudor Investment Corp Et Al purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 3rd quarter valued at about $11,952,000. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 484.3% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 699,265 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $13,615,000 after acquiring an additional 579,582 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Stock Up 1.4 %

ARCC stock opened at $20.89 on Tuesday. Ares Capital Co. has a one year low of $18.00 and a one year high of $21.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. The company has a fifty day moving average of $20.44 and a 200-day moving average of $20.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.70 billion, a PE ratio of 7.15 and a beta of 0.99.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The investment management company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.60 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $701.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $703.85 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 62.77% and a return on equity of 12.37%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.19%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ARCC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Ares Capital from $21.50 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. B. Riley cut shares of Ares Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.43.

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.