Merriman Wealth Management LLC Purchases 1,144 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Merriman Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 31,607 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,144 shares during the period. Merriman Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $659,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ARCC. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 20.2% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 11,681,109 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $243,434,000 after purchasing an additional 1,961,166 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 1st quarter worth $86,227,000. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 3,492,247 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $72,778,000 after buying an additional 273,025 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 3,099,134 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $64,524,000 after acquiring an additional 223,245 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in Ares Capital by 3.8% in the second quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,138,203 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $44,560,000 after acquiring an additional 78,140 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARCC has been the topic of a number of research reports. JMP Securities raised their price target on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group upgraded Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Compass Point raised shares of Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.71.

Ares Capital Stock Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $20.61 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.77. The firm has a market cap of $12.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.06 and a beta of 1.01. Ares Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $18.55 and a fifty-two week high of $21.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The investment management company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.03. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.24% and a net margin of 59.76%. The business had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $714.27 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.58 EPS. Analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.75%.

Ares Capital 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.