Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp Trims Stock Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp decreased its holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 7.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 88,783 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 6,739 shares during the quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,859,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 2,104.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,613,285 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $756,620,000 after purchasing an additional 3,449,395 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 20.2% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 11,681,109 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $243,434,000 after buying an additional 1,961,166 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 143.9% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 820,390 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $17,081,000 after buying an additional 484,088 shares in the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $9,815,000. Finally, Boston Partners purchased a new stake in Ares Capital in the 1st quarter worth approximately $7,792,000. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on ARCC. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Monday, August 5th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group upgraded Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, B. Riley boosted their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.86.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of Ares Capital stock opened at $22.15 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $14.31 billion, a PE ratio of 8.47 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $21.35 and a 200 day moving average of $21.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. Ares Capital Co. has a 12 month low of $19.32 and a 12 month high of $22.21.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a net margin of 53.71% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The firm had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.45 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is 73.85%.

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.