Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Acquired by Northeast Financial Consultants Inc

Northeast Financial Consultants Inc increased its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 14.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 701,486 shares of the investment management company's stock after buying an additional 88,216 shares during the quarter. Ares Capital comprises approximately 0.6% of Northeast Financial Consultants Inc's portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc owned about 0.10% of Ares Capital worth $15,356,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ARCC. Montag & Caldwell LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth $48,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth $60,000. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 92.6% in the fourth quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 2,889 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 1,389 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

ARCC traded up $0.24 on Friday, reaching $21.91. The company had a trading volume of 2,429,861 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,136,487. Ares Capital Co. has a 1 year low of $18.26 and a 1 year high of $23.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.11 billion, a PE ratio of 8.94 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. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $21.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.90.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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). 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 analysts' expectations of $769.32 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. Ares Capital's revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.76%. Ares Capital's payout ratio is 93.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on ARCC shares. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ares Capital from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $22.00.

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.