Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Decreases Stock Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC reduced its position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 12.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 276,767 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 39,878 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $5,762,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Ares Capital in the 1st quarter worth approximately $86,227,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Ares Capital by 1,865.8% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,214,991 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $844,260,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000,570 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Ares Capital by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,282,079 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $165,890,000 after purchasing an additional 840,823 shares during the period. Tudor Investment Corp Et Al bought a new stake in Ares Capital in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $11,952,000. Finally, Edge Capital Group LLC grew its position in Ares Capital by 2,057.7% in the 4th quarter. Edge Capital Group LLC now owns 526,258 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $10,541,000 after purchasing an additional 501,868 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ARCC shares. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.50 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.50.

Ares Capital Stock Down 0.6 %

ARCC opened at $20.71 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. Ares Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $18.55 and a fifty-two week high of $21.84. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $21.03 and its 200 day moving average is $20.52. The stock has a market cap of $12.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.09 and a beta of 1.00.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The investment management company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $701.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $703.85 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 62.77% and a return on equity of 12.37%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.56 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is currently 65.75%.

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.