Van ECK Associates Corp Sells 334,932 Shares of Ares Capital Corporation $ARCC

Van ECK Associates Corp lowered its stake in shares of Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,673,579 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 334,932 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $256,387,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ARCC. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 16,502 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $365,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new stake in Ares Capital during the first quarter worth $273,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Ares Capital by 14.5% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,835,007 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $62,824,000 after acquiring an additional 358,829 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in Ares Capital by 139.9% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 27,655 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $613,000 after acquiring an additional 16,128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC bought a new stake in Ares Capital during the first quarter worth $14,766,000. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on ARCC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $19.00 price target (down from $20.00) on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Friday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.65.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of ARCC opened at $19.26 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.83 billion, a PE ratio of 11.82 and a beta of 0.56. The company’s 50-day moving average is $18.76 and its 200-day moving average is $19.37. Ares Capital Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $17.40 and a fifty-two week high of $23.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The investment management company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $763.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $778.00 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 37.30% and a return on equity of 9.85%. Ares Capital’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Ares Capital Corporation will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 117.79%.

Ares Capital Company Profile

Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: ARCC) is a publicly traded business development company (BDC) that specializes in providing debt and equity financing solutions to U.S. middle-market companies. As a BDC, Ares Capital offers investors access to a diversified portfolio of tailored credit investments, including senior secured loans, unitranche financing, mezzanine debt and equity co-investments. The firm’s flexible capital structures are designed to support companies seeking growth capital, refinancing or strategic acquisitions.

Through its credit platform, Ares Capital focuses on originations, underwriting and portfolio management across a range of industries, with a particular emphasis on sectors such as healthcare, technology, industrials and business services.