Fiduciary Group LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Fiduciary Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 21,851 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Fiduciary Group LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $478,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Horizon Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at about $48,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at about $60,000. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 92.6% in the 4th quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 2,889 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 1,389 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ARCC shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James cut Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.94.

Ares Capital Trading Down 0.1 %

ARCC opened at $21.73 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $14.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.87 and a beta of 1.00. Ares Capital Co. has a 52 week low of $19.32 and a 52 week high of $23.84. The business’s 50 day moving average is $22.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 EPS 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, research analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 78.37%.

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.