TrueMark Investments LLC Sells 9,361 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

TrueMark Investments LLC lessened its holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 46.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 10,792 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 9,361 shares during the period. TrueMark Investments LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $236,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ARCC. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position 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 valued at $309,649,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489,552 shares during the period. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new position in Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at about $84,426,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Ares Capital by 3.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,387,097 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $70,926,000 after acquiring an additional 104,710 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth approximately $58,159,000. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position 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 valued at $50,659,000 after purchasing an additional 96,992 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on ARCC shares. Raymond James downgraded Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.94.

Ares Capital Stock Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ ARCC opened at $22.23 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21. Ares Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $19.32 and a fifty-two week high of $23.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.15 billion, a PE ratio of 9.07 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $22.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.95.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 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%. Equities analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.64%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.