Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Stake Lifted by Avantax Advisory Services Inc.

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 105,866 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 2,629 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $2,317,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Ares Capital by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $309,649,000 after buying an additional 1,489,552 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Ares Capital by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,387,097 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $70,926,000 after buying an additional 104,710 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Ares Capital during the 4th quarter worth $58,159,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its stake in Ares Capital by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,314,269 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $50,659,000 after buying an additional 96,992 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CCLA Investment Management grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $48,419,000 after purchasing an additional 531,305 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARCC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com lowered Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Raymond James lowered Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.94.

Ares Capital Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC opened at $21.28 on Monday. Ares Capital Co. has a 12 month low of $19.32 and a 12 month high of $23.84. The company has a market cap of $14.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.69 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.91.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 78.37%.

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.