Virtus ETF Advisers LLC Has $721,000 Stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Virtus ETF Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 7.1% 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 32,956 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,191 shares during the quarter. Virtus ETF Advisers LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $721,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ARCC. Montag & Caldwell LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Promus Capital LLC bought a new stake in Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at $48,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Ares Capital in the 4th quarter worth $60,000. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in Ares Capital by 92.6% during the 4th quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 2,889 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ARCC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price 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. Raymond James lowered shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.33.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.0 %

Ares Capital stock opened at $21.11 on Friday. Ares Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $18.26 and a fifty-two week high of $23.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.45 billion, a PE ratio of 8.62 and a beta of 0.77. The company’s 50-day moving average is $21.60 and its 200-day moving average is $21.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share (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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.10%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.