Benjamin Edwards Inc. Increases Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 7.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 14,415 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,042 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $289,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Ares Capital by 1,865.8% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,214,991 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $844,260,000 after buying an additional 4,000,570 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,282,079 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $165,890,000 after purchasing an additional 840,823 shares during the period. Melia Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $13,992,000. Tudor Investment Corp Et Al acquired a new position in Ares Capital during the third quarter worth $11,952,000. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 484.3% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 699,265 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $13,615,000 after buying an additional 579,582 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ:ARCC traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $20.61. 2,902,245 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,632,858. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.06. The company has a market capitalization of $12.53 billion, a PE ratio of 7.06 and a beta of 0.99. Ares Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $17.53 and a fifty-two week high of $21.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The investment management company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.37% and a net margin of 62.77%. The firm had revenue of $701.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $703.85 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.32%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 13th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on ARCC shares. B. Riley lowered shares of Ares Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 8th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Ares Capital from $21.50 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.43.

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.