Park Avenue Securities LLC Reduces Position in Ares Capital Corporation $ARCC

Park Avenue Securities LLC lessened its stake in shares of Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 4.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,060 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 617 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $287,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Elequin Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 320.7% during the first quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,628 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,241 shares during the period. Investment Management Corp VA ADV boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 193.9% during the first quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV now owns 1,828 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,206 shares during the period. PSI Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 121.1% during the first quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 2,100 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares during the period. Finally, Archer Investment Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 281.3% during the first quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 2,440 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Price Performance

ARCC opened at $20.41 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The company has a market cap of $14.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.96 and a beta of 0.70. Ares Capital Corporation has a 12-month low of $18.26 and a 12-month high of $23.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $614.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $748.76 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 10.48% and a net margin of 44.94%.During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.61 EPS. Research analysts predict that Ares Capital Corporation will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th were issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.4%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is 93.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ARCC shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Thursday, July 31st. JMP Securities set a $23.00 target price on Ares Capital and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 16th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.86.

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.