Focus Partners Wealth Acquires Shares of 54,580 Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Focus Partners Wealth purchased a new stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 54,580 shares of the investment management company's stock, valued at approximately $1,260,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Enstar Group LTD bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $10,265,000. FJ Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,065,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 14.5% during the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 12,027 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $263,000 after acquiring an additional 1,523 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Select Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,805,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 16.6% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 1,036,690 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $22,693,000 after acquiring an additional 147,803 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ARCC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price 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. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of 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, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ares Capital from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $22.00.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ARCC traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $21.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,118,072 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,133,648. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.89 billion, a PE ratio of 8.81 and a beta of 0.70. Ares Capital Co. has a twelve month low of $18.26 and a twelve month high of $23.84. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $21.05 and a 200 day moving average of $21.91. 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 (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $599.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $769.32 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. The firm's revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.89%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.