Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Sold by D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. cut its stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 15.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 199,872 shares of the investment management company's stock after selling 37,816 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.'s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $4,375,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 117.0% during the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 27,548 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $603,000 after buying an additional 14,852 shares in the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel raised its stake in Ares Capital by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 309,022 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $6,764,000 after acquiring an additional 16,857 shares during the period. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC raised its stake in Ares Capital by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 13,362 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $293,000 after acquiring an additional 964 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 33.4% during the fourth quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 19,181 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $420,000 after purchasing an additional 4,799 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 177,018 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $3,875,000 after purchasing an additional 9,766 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Ares Capital Trading Down 2.1%

ARCC traded down $0.46 on Wednesday, reaching $21.53. 4,318,301 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,131,364. The company has a market cap of $14.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.79 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. Ares Capital Co. has a one year low of $18.26 and a one year high of $23.84. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $21.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.91.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $599.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $769.32 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.59 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders 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 8.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio is currently 93.66%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target 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. StockNews.com lowered Ares Capital from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target 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.