D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Has $4.38 Million Stock Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. cut its stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 15.9% in 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 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ARCC. Brookstone Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 117.0% during the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 27,548 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $603,000 after buying an additional 14,852 shares in the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 309,022 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $6,764,000 after buying an additional 16,857 shares in the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 13,362 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $293,000 after buying an additional 964 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $420,000 after buying an additional 4,799 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 177,018 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $3,875,000 after buying an additional 9,766 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ARCC. Raymond James downgraded shares of Ares Capital from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group reduced their price target 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. decreased 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $22.00.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of ARCC stock traded up $0.07 on Friday, hitting $21.59. The company had a trading volume of 2,118,072 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,133,648. The firm has a market cap of $14.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.81 and a beta of 0.70. The stock's 50-day moving average is $21.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.21. Ares Capital Co. has a twelve month low of $18.26 and a twelve month high of $23.84.

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

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.89%. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio is currently 93.66%.

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.