Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Sells 71,365 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lessened its position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 23.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 227,140 shares of the investment management company's stock after selling 71,365 shares during the quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.'s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $4,972,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ARCC. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 82.6% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 87,981 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $1,926,000 after acquiring an additional 39,806 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 117.0% in the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 27,548 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $603,000 after purchasing an additional 14,852 shares during the period. EWG Elevate Inc. boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. EWG Elevate Inc. now owns 147,633 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $3,232,000 after purchasing an additional 5,089 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 269,555 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $5,645,000 after purchasing an additional 2,596 shares during the period. Finally, Worth Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 22.5% in the 4th quarter. Worth Asset Management LLC now owns 15,918 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $348,000 after purchasing an additional 2,927 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on ARCC shares. StockNews.com raised Ares Capital from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Ares Capital from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. 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 report on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $22.29.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Ares Capital stock traded up $0.12 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $22.10. 2,858,456 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,147,002. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $21.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.28 billion, a PE ratio of 8.50 and a beta of 1.00. Ares Capital Co. has a one year low of $19.32 and a one year high of $22.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.45 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 53.71%. The business's revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.59 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.69%. Ares Capital's payout ratio is presently 73.85%.

Ares Capital Company 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.