Sigma Planning Corp Cuts Holdings in Ares Capital Corporation $ARCC

Sigma Planning Corp cut its position in shares of Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 153,308 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 10,211 shares during the quarter. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $3,367,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. iA Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 100.5% during the second quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 819,236 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $17,990,000 after purchasing an additional 410,667 shares during the last quarter. Palogic Value Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 1.3% during the second quarter. Palogic Value Management L.P. now owns 108,124 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,374,000 after purchasing an additional 1,359 shares during the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 23.9% during the second quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 11,209 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $246,000 after purchasing an additional 2,160 shares during the last quarter. Bridgewealth Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital during the second quarter worth about $282,000. Finally, IFG Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 21.3% during the second quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 50,579 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,111,000 after purchasing an additional 8,868 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ares Capital

In other news, CEO Michael Kort Schnabel bought 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 31st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $20.39 per share, for a total transaction of $265,070.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 28,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $570,920. This trade represents a 86.67% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of ARCC stock opened at $20.41 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.21 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $20.84 and its 200 day moving average is $21.56. Ares Capital Corporation has a 12 month low of $18.26 and a 12 month high of $23.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The investment management company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. The company had revenue of $658.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $766.48 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 45.16% and a return on equity of 10.08%. Ares Capital’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.58 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Corporation will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ARCC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Thursday. B. Riley upgraded shares of Ares Capital from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $22.50 to $23.50 in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.25.

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.