Apollon Wealth Management LLC Increases Stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 56.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 181,631 shares of the investment management company's stock after buying an additional 65,340 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Ares Capital were worth $3,976,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Almanack Investment Partners LLC. raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 72.4% in the fourth quarter. Almanack Investment Partners LLC. now owns 33,099 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $725,000 after buying an additional 13,895 shares during the last quarter. TFG Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 29.1% in the fourth quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 52,753 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $1,155,000 after acquiring an additional 11,884 shares in the last quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 41.7% in the fourth quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC now owns 168,073 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $3,679,000 after purchasing an additional 49,500 shares in the last quarter. Platform Technology Partners boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 27,450 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $601,000 after purchasing an additional 867 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth $421,000. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ARCC shares. B. Riley upped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ares Capital from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $22.94.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC traded up $0.21 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $22.91. The company had a trading volume of 3,471,341 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,609,776. Ares Capital Co. has a 12 month low of $19.32 and a 12 month high of $23.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The company's fifty day moving average price is $22.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.57. The stock has a market cap of $15.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.35 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. As a group, research analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital's payout ratio is presently 78.37%.

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.