WealthPLAN Partners LLC Decreases Stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

WealthPLAN Partners LLC reduced its holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 53.1% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 17,922 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 20,327 shares during the period. WealthPLAN Partners LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $373,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Nemes Rush Group LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 323.3% during the first quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 1,435 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 1,096 shares during the last quarter. Pingora Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 93.9% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,922 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 931 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 218.7% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,960 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,345 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $21.50 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.50.

Ares Capital Trading Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ:ARCC traded down $0.16 on Monday, reaching $21.03. The stock had a trading volume of 1,321,197 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,478,443. The company has a market cap of $12.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.26 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $21.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.60. Ares Capital Co. has a 12-month low of $18.55 and a 12-month high of $21.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The investment management company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a net margin of 62.77% and a return on equity of 12.37%. The company had revenue of $701.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $703.85 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.56 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.13%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.75%.

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.