HUB Investment Partners LLC Decreases Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

HUB Investment Partners LLC cut its stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 9.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 49,070 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 4,970 shares during the period. HUB Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,074,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ARCC. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new stake in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $84,426,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth approximately $58,159,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings 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 worth $309,649,000 after buying an additional 1,489,552 shares during the period. CCLA Investment Management raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 31.6% in the fourth quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 2,211,955 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $48,419,000 after buying an additional 531,305 shares during the period. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 48.6% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,400,539 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $30,658,000 after buying an additional 458,360 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Ares Capital Stock Down 0.1 %

Ares Capital stock opened at $21.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.87 and a beta of 1.00. Ares Capital Co. has a 1-year low of $19.32 and a 1-year high of $23.84. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $22.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.91.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. Equities research analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 8.84%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 78.37%.

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.