Invesco Ltd. Cuts Stock Holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Invesco Ltd. reduced its position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 85.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 404,780 shares of the investment management company's stock after selling 2,424,546 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned approximately 0.06% of Ares Capital worth $8,861,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new position in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth $84,426,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter worth $58,159,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Ares Capital by 11.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,489,552 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake 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 valued at $93,439,000 after purchasing an additional 881,450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CCLA Investment Management raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 31.6% during the fourth quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 2,211,955 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $48,419,000 after buying an additional 531,305 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARCC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price 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. Raymond James lowered Ares Capital from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $22.33.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $21.11. 2,818,110 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,090,548. Ares Capital Co. has a 52 week low of $18.26 and a 52 week high of $23.84. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $21.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.62 and a beta of 0.77.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. Analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.10%. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 78.37%.

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.