Park Avenue Securities LLC Has $401,000 Stock Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Park Avenue Securities LLC lowered its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 9.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,339 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 1,856 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $401,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 8.3% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 12,656,154 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $272,107,000 after purchasing an additional 975,045 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC raised its position in Ares Capital by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,836,573 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $80,338,000 after purchasing an additional 63,999 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 2,104.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,613,285 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $756,620,000 after buying an additional 3,449,395 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,387,097 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $70,926,000 after buying an additional 104,710 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,217,277 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $46,430,000 after buying an additional 79,074 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC opened at $23.43 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market cap of $15.14 billion, a PE ratio of 9.01 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.37. Ares Capital Co. has a 12-month low of $19.32 and a 12-month high of $23.53.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 53.71%. The company had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.45 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. Ares Capital’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.19%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 73.85%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com raised Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ares Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, B. Riley lifted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.29.

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.