Modern Wealth Management LLC Raises Stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Modern Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 7.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 60,558 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,171 shares during the quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,385,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $48,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth $60,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. boosted its position in Ares Capital by 92.6% during the fourth quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 2,889 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. grew its holdings in Ares Capital by 200.0% in the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 3,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARCC has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Raymond James cut shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.94.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

NASDAQ ARCC opened at $22.31 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $22.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. Ares Capital Co. has a twelve month low of $19.32 and a twelve month high of $23.84. The company has a market capitalization of $15.21 billion, a PE ratio of 9.11 and a beta of 1.00.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.61%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 78.37%.

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.