Balboa Wealth Partners Trims Stock Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Balboa Wealth Partners cut its stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 48,215 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 1,854 shares during the period. Balboa Wealth Partners’ holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,055,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ARCC. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at $58,159,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Ares Capital by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $309,649,000 after acquiring an additional 1,489,552 shares during the last quarter. CCLA Investment Management lifted its position in Ares Capital by 31.6% in the fourth quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 2,211,955 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $48,419,000 after acquiring an additional 531,305 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 48.6% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,400,539 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $30,658,000 after buying an additional 458,360 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Columbus Macro LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at about $8,870,000. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ARCC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James cut shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. One 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.94.

Ares Capital Stock Down 0.5 %

Ares Capital stock opened at $21.75 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21. Ares Capital Co. has a 1-year low of $19.32 and a 1-year high of $23.84. The company has a market cap of $14.60 billion, a PE ratio of 8.88 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $22.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.89.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued 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 yield of 8.83%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.