Confluence Investment Management LLC Sells 23,352 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Confluence Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,813,221 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 23,352 shares during the quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $83,471,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position 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 worth $272,107,000 after purchasing an additional 975,045 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted 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 worth $756,620,000 after acquiring an additional 3,449,395 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 8.5% during the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 3,492,247 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $72,778,000 after acquiring an additional 273,025 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $70,926,000 after acquiring an additional 104,710 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 3.7% during the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,217,277 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $46,430,000 after acquiring an additional 79,074 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on ARCC shares. B. Riley upped their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com raised Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Ares Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.29.

Ares Capital Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of ARCC stock traded up $0.23 during trading on Thursday, hitting $22.12. 1,920,827 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,566,402. Ares Capital Co. has a 52-week low of $19.32 and a 52-week high of $22.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.51 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $21.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

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 company had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $770.45 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.68%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.85%.

Ares Capital Company 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.