Balentine LLC Takes $614,000 Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Balentine LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 29,304 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $614,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARCC. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 12,656,154 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $272,107,000 after buying an additional 975,045 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 2,104.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,613,285 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $756,620,000 after acquiring an additional 3,449,395 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in Ares Capital by 8.5% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 3,099,134 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $64,524,000 after purchasing an additional 223,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,217,277 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $46,430,000 after purchasing an additional 79,074 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on ARCC shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group raised Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Compass Point upgraded Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, B. Riley boosted their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.86.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of ARCC stock opened at $21.01 on Wednesday. Ares Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $19.32 and a fifty-two week high of $22.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $21.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.08 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $770.45 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 53.71%. The business’s revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.14%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.85%.

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.