Golden State Wealth Management LLC Takes Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 19,248 shares of the investment management company's stock, valued at approximately $421,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brookstone Capital Management acquired a new position in Ares Capital in the 3rd quarter valued at about $266,000. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 21.1% in the 3rd quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 23,000 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $482,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 7.1% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 145,366 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $3,044,000 after purchasing an additional 9,590 shares during the period. Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the third quarter worth approximately $228,000. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 2.5% during the third quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 98,350 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $2,059,000 after purchasing an additional 2,420 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on ARCC shares. Raymond James cut shares of Ares Capital from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Capital from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, B. Riley lifted their price target on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned 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, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $22.94.

Ares Capital Price Performance

NASDAQ:ARCC traded down $0.17 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $22.70. 4,458,053 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,651,843. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.21. The company has a market cap of $15.24 billion, a PE ratio of 9.27 and a beta of 1.01. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $22.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.56. Ares Capital Co. has a 1 year low of $19.32 and a 1 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 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.46%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital's payout ratio is currently 78.37%.

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.