Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Bought by Cerity Partners LLC

Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 461.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 242,147 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 199,029 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $4,850,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ARCC. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 1,865.8% during the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 4,000,570 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 7,441,256 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $144,881,000 after acquiring an additional 708,568 shares during the last quarter. Melia Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at about $13,992,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 160.0% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,117,111 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $23,403,000 after acquiring an additional 687,496 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ares Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 35.7% during the 1st quarter. Ares Management LLC now owns 2,361,573 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $49,475,000 after acquiring an additional 621,814 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ARCC shares. B. Riley cut Ares Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, January 8th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.80.

Ares Capital Price Performance

NASDAQ ARCC opened at $20.24 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $12.28 billion, a PE ratio of 7.58 and a beta of 1.00. Ares Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $17.53 and a fifty-two week high of $20.86. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $20.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $19.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The investment management company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $707.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $669.78 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.50% and a net margin of 58.22%. Ares Capital’s quarterly revenue was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.68 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.49%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 71.91%.

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.