Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Sold by Fmr LLC

FMR LLC trimmed its holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 30.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,674,845 shares of the investment management company's stock after selling 1,622,077 shares during the period. FMR LLC owned 0.57% of Ares Capital worth $76,951,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ARCC. Asset Dedication LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Horizon Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. nVerses Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 88.9% during the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 1,700 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of ARCC traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $22.21. 4,153,203 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,424,976. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The company has a market cap of $14.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.52 and a beta of 1.01. The stock's 50-day moving average is $21.50 and its 200-day moving average is $21.10. Ares Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $19.32 and a fifty-two week high of $22.30.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a net margin of 53.71% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The business had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $770.45 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.59 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.64%. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ARCC. 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. B. Riley increased their price target on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ares Capital from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Ares Capital to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $22.29.

About Ares Capital

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.