Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Makes New $1.10 Million Investment in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 50,093 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,097,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ARCC. Horizon Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Ares Capital in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Promus Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth approximately $48,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 92.6% during the fourth quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 2,889 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389 shares during the period. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 200.0% during the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 3,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on ARCC. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Raymond James cut Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.94.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $23.01 on Monday. Ares Capital Co. has a 1 year low of $19.32 and a 1 year high of $23.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.39 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.88.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. As a group, research analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.34%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 78.37%.

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.