Hilton Capital Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Hilton Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 11.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 315,076 shares of the investment management company's stock after selling 42,097 shares during the quarter. Hilton Capital Management LLC's holdings in Ares Capital were worth $6,897,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth approximately $519,000. Round Rock Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,512,000. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its position in Ares Capital by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 507,374 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $11,208,000 after purchasing an additional 25,347 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Ares Capital by 24.3% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 650,163 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $13,900,000 after purchasing an additional 127,219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its position in Ares Capital by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 43,056 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $942,000 after purchasing an additional 1,945 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ARCC. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research 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 company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James cut Ares Capital from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Ares Capital from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $22.94.

Remove Ads

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.8 %

Ares Capital stock traded up $0.17 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $21.82. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,302,596 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,697,396. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.87 billion, a PE ratio of 8.91 and a beta of 1.00. Ares Capital Co. has a 1 year low of $19.32 and a 1 year high of $23.84. 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's fifty day moving average is $22.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.91.

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 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.80%. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio is currently 78.37%.

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.