Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Acquires New Shares in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 10,824 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ARCC. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Ares Capital by 41.3% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 26,338 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $548,000 after purchasing an additional 7,695 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 19.6% during the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 11,990 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $250,000 after buying an additional 1,966 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 206.7% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 55,516 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,156,000 after acquiring an additional 37,412 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in Ares Capital by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 124,004 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,582,000 after purchasing an additional 5,811 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 18.6% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 44,656 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $930,000 after acquiring an additional 6,992 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on ARCC. Compass Point raised shares of Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Monday, August 5th. B. Riley lifted their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.86.

Ares Capital Stock Down 0.3 %

ARCC opened at $21.53 on Wednesday. Ares Capital Co. has a 12 month low of $19.32 and a 12 month high of $22.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $21.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.99. The company has a market cap of $13.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.28 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a net margin of 53.71% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The company had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.45 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.85%.

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.