Ayrshire Capital Management LLC Has $1.58 Million Stock Holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Ayrshire Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 71,945 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 2,594 shares during the period. Ayrshire Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,575,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ARCC. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 41.2% during the fourth quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 17,712 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $388,000 after purchasing an additional 5,171 shares during the period. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ares Capital by 82.6% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 87,981 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,926,000 after purchasing an additional 39,806 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 117.0% during the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 27,548 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $603,000 after purchasing an additional 14,852 shares in the last quarter. EWG Elevate Inc. raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. EWG Elevate Inc. now owns 147,633 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,232,000 after buying an additional 5,089 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Ares Capital by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 269,555 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $5,645,000 after buying an additional 2,596 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on ARCC. B. Riley boosted their price target on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised Ares Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Three 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 MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.29.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Ares Capital stock opened at $22.10 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $14.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.50 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $21.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.24. Ares Capital Co. has a 52 week low of $19.32 and a 52 week high of $22.43.

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

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.69%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.85%.

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.