Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Stock Position Reduced by Demars Financial Group LLC

Demars Financial Group LLC cut its holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 77.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 24,579 shares of the investment management company's stock after selling 84,175 shares during the quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC's holdings in Ares Capital were worth $492,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 10.5% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 7,441,256 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $144,881,000 after purchasing an additional 708,568 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Ares Capital by 1,865.8% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,214,991 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $844,260,000 after buying an additional 4,000,570 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Ares Capital by 0.8% in the third quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 3,043,209 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $59,251,000 after buying an additional 23,276 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its position in Ares Capital by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 1,954,786 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $39,154,000 after buying an additional 66,878 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Ares Capital by 4.5% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,378,882 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $26,847,000 after buying an additional 59,808 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ARCC traded up $0.05 on Wednesday, hitting $20.79. 2,125,719 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,574,647. Ares Capital Co. has a 12 month low of $17.53 and a 12 month high of $20.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.79 and a beta of 1.00. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $20.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The investment management company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.03. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.50% and a net margin of 58.22%. The business had revenue of $707.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $669.78 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.68 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.24%. Ares Capital's payout ratio is currently 71.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ARCC. JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $21.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, B. Riley downgraded Ares Capital from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $21.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $20.80.

Ares Capital 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.