Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Sold by ST Germain D J Co. Inc.

ST Germain D J Co. Inc. cut its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 8.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 36,900 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 3,600 shares during the quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $808,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 8.3% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 12,656,154 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $272,107,000 after purchasing an additional 975,045 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 1.7% during the third 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 during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 2,104.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,613,285 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $756,620,000 after purchasing an additional 3,449,395 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 8.5% during the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 3,492,247 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $72,778,000 after purchasing an additional 273,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 3.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,387,097 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $70,926,000 after acquiring an additional 104,710 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ares Capital Price Performance

ARCC stock opened at $21.98 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $21.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.21. Ares Capital Co. has a 12-month low of $19.32 and a 12-month high of $22.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The company has a market cap of $14.20 billion, a PE ratio of 8.45 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.74%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 73.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ARCC. B. Riley boosted their price target on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com raised Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Ares Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.29.

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.