Envestnet Asset Management Inc. Sells 247,740 Shares of Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 21.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 897,056 shares of the investment management company's stock after selling 247,740 shares during the quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. owned approximately 0.13% of Ares Capital worth $19,879,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in Ares Capital by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 241,119 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $5,343,000 after acquiring an additional 1,776 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in Ares Capital by 18.2% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 47,840 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $1,058,000 after buying an additional 7,381 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in Ares Capital by 23,571.4% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,314 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 3,300 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 2,116.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 13,274 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $2,940,000 after buying an additional 12,675 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $314,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ARCC shares. UBS Group upped their target price on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. B. Riley raised Ares Capital to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $22.21.

Ares Capital Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of ARCC stock traded down $0.04 during trading on Friday, hitting $23.21. 2,473,377 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,209,561. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $22.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.00. Ares Capital Corporation has a twelve month low of $18.26 and a twelve month high of $23.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.32 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last posted 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). Ares Capital had a net margin of 43.50% and a return on equity of 11.05%. The company had revenue of $599.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $769.32 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Ares Capital Corporation will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 93.66%.

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.