Bell Bank Sells 57,049 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Bell Bank lowered its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 11.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 427,727 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 57,049 shares during the quarter. Ares Capital accounts for about 1.1% of Bell Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Bell Bank’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $8,957,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 12,656,154 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $272,107,000 after purchasing an additional 975,045 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Ares Capital by 1.7% in the third quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,836,573 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $80,338,000 after buying an additional 63,999 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 2,104.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,613,285 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $756,620,000 after buying an additional 3,449,395 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 3,492,247 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $72,778,000 after buying an additional 273,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,217,277 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $46,430,000 after buying an additional 79,074 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ARCC. UBS Group raised shares of Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Compass Point raised Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. B. Riley increased their price target on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.86.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of Ares Capital stock opened at $21.54 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. Ares Capital Co. has a 12 month low of $19.32 and a 12 month high of $22.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.28 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a net margin of 53.71% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The firm had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.45 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. Ares Capital’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.91%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.85%.

Ares Capital 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.