Creative Planning Has $6.74 Million Stock Holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Creative Planning decreased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 323,250 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 11,352 shares during the period. Creative Planning’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $6,737,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ARCC. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Ares Capital during the first quarter worth $86,227,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 20.2% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 11,681,109 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $243,434,000 after purchasing an additional 1,961,166 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 143.9% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 820,390 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $17,081,000 after purchasing an additional 484,088 shares during the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the second quarter valued at about $9,815,000. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 52.7% in the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,354,097 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $28,192,000 after purchasing an additional 467,535 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

NASDAQ ARCC opened at $20.84 on Thursday. Ares Capital Co. has a 52-week low of $18.55 and a 52-week high of $21.84. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40. The company has a market capitalization of $12.81 billion, a PE ratio of 7.14 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The investment management company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $714.27 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 59.76% and a return on equity of 12.24%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.58 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.39 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.21%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on ARCC. Compass Point upgraded shares of Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Monday, August 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with 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 stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.71.

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.