Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Stock Position Decreased by Invesco Ltd.

Invesco Ltd. lowered its stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 85.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 404,780 shares of the investment management company's stock after selling 2,424,546 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned 0.06% of Ares Capital worth $8,861,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARCC. Sculati Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Ares Capital by 1.0% during the third quarter. Sculati Wealth Management LLC now owns 115,744 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $2,410,000 after purchasing an additional 1,149 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital during the 3rd quarter worth $252,000. Sfmg LLC lifted its stake in Ares Capital by 4.3% in the third quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 439,503 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $9,203,000 after buying an additional 18,056 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 382.8% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 61,609 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $1,290,000 after acquiring an additional 48,848 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 6.2% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 63,385 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $1,327,000 after acquiring an additional 3,726 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on ARCC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Raymond James downgraded Ares Capital from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $22.33.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

ARCC traded up $0.35 during trading on Thursday, reaching $21.10. 3,620,082 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,082,554. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market cap of $14.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.61 and a beta of 0.77. Ares Capital Co. has a 52 week low of $18.26 and a 52 week high of $23.84. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $21.64 and a 200 day moving average of $21.93.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last released 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio is 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.