Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Reduces Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. trimmed its stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 10.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 19,200 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 2,300 shares during the period. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $420,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $309,649,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489,552 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Ares Capital by 26.0% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,268,547 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $93,439,000 after buying an additional 881,450 shares in the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new stake in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at about $84,426,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at about $58,159,000. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,314,269 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $50,659,000 after acquiring an additional 96,992 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ares Capital Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of ARCC opened at $22.11 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The company has a market cap of $15.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.02 and a beta of 1.00. Ares Capital Co. has a twelve month low of $19.32 and a twelve month high of $23.84. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.99.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. As a group, analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 78.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on ARCC shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of 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. lifted their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Raymond James downgraded shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.94.

Ares Capital Profile

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.