Northeast Financial Consultants Inc Increases Stock Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Northeast Financial Consultants Inc grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 14.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 701,486 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 88,216 shares during the period. Ares Capital accounts for approximately 0.6% of Northeast Financial Consultants Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc owned approximately 0.10% of Ares Capital worth $15,356,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $309,649,000 after buying an additional 1,489,552 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Ares Capital by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 7,951,926 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $174,068,000 after purchasing an additional 871,370 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Ares Capital by 26.0% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,268,547 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $93,439,000 after purchasing an additional 881,450 shares during the period. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new stake in Ares Capital during the 4th quarter worth $84,426,000. Finally, Advisors Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Ares Capital by 3.1% in the 4th 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. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of Ares Capital stock opened at $21.78 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $15.02 billion, a PE ratio of 8.89 and a beta of 0.70. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $21.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.21. Ares Capital Co. has a 1 year low of $18.26 and a 1 year high of $23.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.04). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. The business had revenue of $599.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $769.32 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. Ares Capital’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.82%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 93.66%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. 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 research report on Thursday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.00.

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.