Ares Capital Corporation $ARCC Shares Acquired by Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD.

Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. grew its position in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 47.2% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 15,429 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,950 shares during the period. Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $339,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ARCC. Elequin Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the first quarter worth about $30,000. Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 320.7% in the first quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,628 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 1,241 shares during the last quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 193.9% in the first quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV now owns 1,828 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 1,206 shares during the last quarter. PSI Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 121.1% in the first quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 2,100 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 1,150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Archer Investment Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 281.3% in the first quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 2,440 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. B. Riley upgraded Ares Capital from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $22.50 to $23.50 in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 16th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.86.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of ARCC stock opened at $22.30 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.88 and a beta of 0.70. The business’s 50 day moving average is $22.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. Ares Capital Corporation has a 12-month low of $18.26 and a 12-month high of $23.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $614.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 in the prior year, the company posted $0.61 EPS. Analysts expect 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 will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.6%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 93.66%.

Ares Capital Company 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.