B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Decreases Stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. cut its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 20.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 52,809 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 13,409 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,156,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Montag & Caldwell LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth about $48,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth about $60,000. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. raised its stake in Ares Capital by 92.6% during the fourth quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 2,889 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Capital Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of ARCC stock opened at $21.97 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.97 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $21.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.92. Ares Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $18.26 and a fifty-two week high of $23.84.

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

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 93.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARCC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target 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. Raymond James cut shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital presently has an average 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.