Blair William & Co. IL Sells 12,528 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Blair William & Co. IL lessened its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 269,294 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 12,528 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $5,612,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ARCC. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital in the 1st quarter worth approximately $86,227,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,961,166 shares during the last quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 4,876.0% during the first quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 574,978 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $11,971,000 after acquiring an additional 563,423 shares during the period. Edge Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 2,057.7% in the fourth quarter. Edge Capital Group LLC now owns 526,258 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $10,541,000 after acquiring an additional 501,868 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in Ares Capital by 143.9% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 820,390 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $17,081,000 after purchasing an additional 484,088 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ares Capital Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $20.61 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $20.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.78. The company has a market capitalization of $12.67 billion, a PE ratio of 7.06 and a beta of 1.01. Ares Capital Co. has a 52 week low of $18.55 and a 52 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The investment management company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $714.27 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 59.76% and a return on equity of 12.24%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.58 EPS. Analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.