Empowered Funds LLC Acquires Shares of 11,527 Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 11,527 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $252,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 19,148 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $419,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares during the period. Western Financial Corp CA lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Western Financial Corp CA now owns 26,387 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $578,000 after acquiring an additional 564 shares during the period. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 37,086 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $812,000 after acquiring an additional 567 shares during the period. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC now owns 16,455 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $360,000 after buying an additional 578 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 6.2% in the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,842 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $227,000 after buying an additional 629 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ARCC shares. StockNews.com cut Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. B. Riley lifted their price target on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.94.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of ARCC stock opened at $23.30 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $22.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market cap of $15.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.51 and a beta of 1.01. Ares Capital Co. has a 12 month low of $19.32 and a 12 month 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 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%. Research analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.24%. Ares Capital’s 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.