Bank of Montreal Can Reduces Holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Bank of Montreal Can decreased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 17.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,586 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 3,325 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $341,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Promus Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth $48,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 92.6% in the 4th quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 2,889 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 1,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its stake in Ares Capital by 200.0% in the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 3,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James lowered Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group decreased their price objective 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 decreased their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.61.

Ares Capital Price Performance

ARCC stock opened at $20.74 on Thursday. Ares Capital Co. has a 12-month low of $18.26 and a 12-month high of $23.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.93. The firm has a market cap of $14.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.46 and a beta of 0.77.

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

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

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

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.