Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Sold by Invesco Ltd.

Invesco Ltd. trimmed its holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 85.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 404,780 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 2,424,546 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned 0.06% of Ares Capital worth $8,861,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sculati Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sculati Wealth Management LLC now owns 115,744 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,410,000 after purchasing an additional 1,149 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital during the third quarter worth $252,000. Sfmg LLC lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 4.3% in the third quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 439,503 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $9,203,000 after acquiring an additional 18,056 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 382.8% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 61,609 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,290,000 after acquiring an additional 48,848 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in Ares Capital by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 63,385 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,327,000 after purchasing an additional 3,726 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARCC has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Raymond James lowered Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.61.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC opened at $20.74 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $21.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.93. 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 cap of $14.19 billion, a PE ratio of 8.46 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. Sell-side analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.26%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 78.37%.

About Ares Capital

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.