Quad Cities Investment Group LLC Sells 1,606 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Quad Cities Investment Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 29,067 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 1,606 shares during the quarter. Quad Cities Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $636,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Choreo LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 2nd quarter valued at about $406,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Ares Capital by 5.0% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,491,495 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $31,083,000 after acquiring an additional 71,393 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 20.2% during the second quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 51,393 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,071,000 after acquiring an additional 8,644 shares in the last quarter. Rathbones Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 170.0% in the 2nd quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 96,803 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,017,000 after acquiring an additional 60,951 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its stake in Ares Capital by 324.6% in the second quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 31,179 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $650,000 after purchasing an additional 23,835 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. B. Riley lifted their price objective 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 raised shares of Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ares Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.29.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Ares Capital stock opened at $22.10 on Tuesday. Ares Capital Co. has a 52-week low of $19.32 and a 52-week high of $22.43. The company has a market cap of $14.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.50 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $21.82 and its 200 day moving average is $21.24. 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) last announced 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). 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 the consensus estimate of $770.45 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.59 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.