D.A. Davidson & CO. Raises Position in Ares Capital Corporation $ARCC

D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its holdings in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 4.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 645,908 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,206 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $11,639,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ARCC. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth about $1,314,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,616,789 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $54,691,000 after purchasing an additional 138,857 shares during the last quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 662,533 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $13,403,000 after purchasing an additional 64,491 shares in the last quarter. Stableford Capital II LLC boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 75.7% in the 4th quarter. Stableford Capital II LLC now owns 145,641 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,946,000 after purchasing an additional 62,768 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prairiewood Capital LLC boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 22.9% in the 4th quarter. Prairiewood Capital LLC now owns 303,282 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $6,135,000 after purchasing an additional 56,465 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer cut 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 note on Wednesday, April 29th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $19.00 to $18.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $19.00 target price (down from $20.00) on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.60.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC opened at $19.21 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. Ares Capital Corporation has a 12 month low of $17.40 and a 12 month high of $23.42. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.02. The stock has a market cap of $13.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.79 and a beta of 0.56.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The investment management company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $763.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $778.00 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 37.30% and a return on equity of 9.85%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Ares Capital Corporation will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.0%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is currently 117.79%.

Ares Capital 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.