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

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC lowered its position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 20.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 62,577 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 16,142 shares during the quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,370,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ARCC. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ares Capital by 82.6% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 87,981 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,926,000 after acquiring an additional 39,806 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 117.0% during the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 27,548 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $603,000 after purchasing an additional 14,852 shares in the last quarter. EWG Elevate Inc. lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. EWG Elevate Inc. now owns 147,633 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,232,000 after purchasing an additional 5,089 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Ares Capital by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 269,555 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $5,645,000 after buying an additional 2,596 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Worth Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Ares Capital by 22.5% during the 4th quarter. Worth Asset Management LLC now owns 15,918 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $348,000 after buying an additional 2,927 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ARCC shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Ares Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. 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 report on Thursday, October 31st. Three investment 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.29.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.5 %

Ares Capital stock opened at $22.10 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $14.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.50 and a beta of 1.00. Ares Capital Co. has a 1 year low of $19.32 and a 1 year high of $22.43. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $21.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 53.71%. The company had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $770.45 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.85%.

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.