Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Stake Increased by Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC

Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 29.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 20,615 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,730 shares during the quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $432,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in Ares Capital by 6.3% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 54,206 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,129,000 after buying an additional 3,206 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $272,000. Boston Partners bought a new position in Ares Capital during the first quarter worth $7,792,000. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 5.1% in the second quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 29,880 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $623,000 after purchasing an additional 1,463 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC increased its stake in Ares Capital by 2.3% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 135,776 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,830,000 after purchasing an additional 3,033 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Price Performance

NASDAQ ARCC opened at $22.15 on Monday. Ares Capital Co. has a 12 month low of $19.32 and a 12 month high of $22.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.31 billion, a PE ratio of 8.52 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 53.71%. The firm had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.45 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.67%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on ARCC shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group raised Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Ares Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $23.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, B. Riley increased their target price on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.29.

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.