Cerity Partners LLC Acquires 32,608 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 8.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 404,482 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 32,608 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC owned about 0.06% of Ares Capital worth $8,848,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ARCC. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth $519,000. Round Rock Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,512,000. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC raised its position in Ares Capital by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 507,374 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $11,208,000 after purchasing an additional 25,347 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Ares Capital by 24.3% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 650,163 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $13,900,000 after buying an additional 127,219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 43,056 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $942,000 after purchasing an additional 1,945 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Raymond James cut shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.81.

Ares Capital Stock Down 4.9 %

Shares of ARCC opened at $19.84 on Friday. Ares Capital Co. has a 52 week low of $18.26 and a 52 week high of $23.84. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.21. The firm has a market cap of $13.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.10 and a beta of 0.77.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. On average, analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.68%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is currently 78.37%.

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.