Boston Partners Trims Stock Position in Ares Capital Corporation $ARCC

Boston Partners trimmed its stake in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 4.3% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 467,296 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 21,190 shares during the period. Boston Partners’ holdings in Ares Capital were worth $10,262,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC raised its position in Ares Capital by 20.9% in the 2nd quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC now owns 126,366 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,775,000 after purchasing an additional 21,847 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Ares Capital by 0.6% in the second quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,796,791 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $83,378,000 after purchasing an additional 21,344 shares during the period. Rollins Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 10.2% in the first quarter. Rollins Financial Advisors LLC now owns 138,139 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,061,000 after buying an additional 12,838 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 3.2% during the second quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,453,944 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $53,889,000 after buying an additional 75,109 shares during the period. Finally, Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 3.9% during the second quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 750,266 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $16,476,000 after buying an additional 27,860 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. B. Riley upgraded Ares Capital from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $22.50 to $23.50 in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen raised Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, October 19th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ares Capital

In related news, CEO Michael Kort Schnabel purchased 13,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $20.39 per share, for a total transaction of $265,070.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 28,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $570,920. This trade represents a 86.67% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of ARCC stock opened at $20.29 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.53. The company has a market cap of $14.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.15 and a beta of 0.68. Ares Capital Corporation has a 12-month low of $18.26 and a 12-month high of $23.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The investment management company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 10.08% and a net margin of 45.16%.The firm had revenue of $658.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $766.48 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.58 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ares Capital Corporation will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is presently 96.00%.

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.