Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Acquired by Cerity Partners LLC

Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 8.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 404,482 shares of the investment management company's stock after acquiring an additional 32,608 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC owned about 0.06% of Ares Capital worth $8,848,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth about $48,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth about $60,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 92.6% in the fourth quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 2,889 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. grew its stake in Ares Capital by 200.0% during the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 3,000 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARCC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Capital from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Raymond James downgraded Ares Capital from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $22.81.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

ARCC stock traded up $0.27 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $20.29. The company had a trading volume of 2,154,728 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,010,041. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $22.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.28 and a beta of 0.77. Ares Capital Co. has a one year low of $18.26 and a one year high of $23.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. Research analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.