Blair William & Co. IL Increases Holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 280,705 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 8,986 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $6,145,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Promus Capital LLC bought a new stake in Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $48,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $60,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 92.6% in the 4th quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 2,889 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389 shares during the period. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 200.0% during 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 in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

ARCC stock opened at $22.11 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.13 billion, a PE ratio of 9.02 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.99. Ares Capital Co. has a 12-month low of $19.32 and a 12-month high of $23.84. 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 (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid 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 8.68%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on ARCC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Raymond James lowered Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.94.

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.