Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 192,841 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,970 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $4,221,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 12,656,154 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $272,107,000 after buying an additional 975,045 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Ares Capital by 1.7% during the third quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,836,573 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $80,338,000 after acquiring an additional 63,999 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Ares Capital by 2,104.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,613,285 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $756,620,000 after purchasing an additional 3,449,395 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,387,097 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $70,926,000 after purchasing an additional 104,710 shares during the period. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,217,277 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $46,430,000 after purchasing an additional 79,074 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on ARCC. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ares Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.29.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of ARCC opened at $22.66 on Thursday. Ares Capital Co. has a 12 month low of $19.32 and a 12 month high of $22.68. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $21.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market cap of $14.64 billion, a PE ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 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.