Heritage Wealth Advisors Sells 7,700 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Heritage Wealth Advisors lessened its stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 65.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,150 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 7,700 shares during the quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Ares Capital were worth $91,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Promus Capital LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at $48,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at $60,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 92.6% during the fourth quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 2,889 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 1,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 200.0% during the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 3,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on ARCC. StockNews.com lowered Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Raymond James lowered Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.94.

Ares Capital Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Ares Capital stock opened at $22.23 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.07 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The business has a 50-day moving average of $22.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.95. Ares Capital Co. has a 1 year low of $19.32 and a 1 year high of $23.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.64%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.