LSV Asset Management Trims Stock Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

LSV Asset Management lessened its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,744,241 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 53,206 shares during the quarter. LSV Asset Management owned approximately 0.31% of Ares Capital worth $34,937,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. grew its position in Ares Capital by 411.0% during the third quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 1,952 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 1,570 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its position in Ares Capital by 93.9% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,922 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 931 shares during the period. Activest Wealth Management grew its position in Ares Capital by 137.2% during the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 2,142 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 1,239 shares during the period. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 59.3% in the fourth quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC now owns 2,351 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the period. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at about $51,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARCC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.50 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. B. Riley lowered shares of Ares Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.43.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Ares Capital stock opened at $20.70 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.07. Ares Capital Co. has a 12-month low of $18.00 and a 12-month high of $21.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market cap of $12.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.06 and a beta of 0.99.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The investment management company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.60 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $701.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $703.85 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 62.77% and a return on equity of 12.37%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.56 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.28%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 13th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.75%.

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.