Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Sold by Envestnet Asset Management Inc.

Envestnet Asset Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 21.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 897,056 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 247,740 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. owned approximately 0.13% of Ares Capital worth $19,879,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ARCC. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Ares Capital by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 7,951,926 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $174,068,000 after purchasing an additional 871,370 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 26.0% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,268,547 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $93,439,000 after acquiring an additional 881,450 shares during the period. Advisors Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 3,523,651 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $77,133,000 after buying an additional 105,526 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 81.0% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,678,525 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $58,633,000 after purchasing an additional 1,198,580 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in Ares Capital by 2.8% in the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,378,835 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $52,715,000 after buying an additional 64,566 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $23.06 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Ares Capital Corporation has a 12 month low of $18.26 and a 12 month high of $23.84. The stock has a market cap of $16.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.25 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a 50 day moving average of $21.95 and a 200 day moving average of $21.99.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $599.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $769.32 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 43.50% and a return on equity of 11.05%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ares Capital Corporation will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.33%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 93.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ARCC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, B. Riley upgraded shares of Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.21.

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.