Barclays PLC Decreases Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Barclays PLC lessened its position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 50.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 124,728 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 128,084 shares during the period. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $2,612,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $756,620,000 after purchasing an additional 3,449,395 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 20.2% in 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 period. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ares Capital in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $9,815,000. Partners Group Holding AG raised its stake in Ares Capital by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter. Partners Group Holding AG now owns 1,787,401 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $37,428,000 after buying an additional 312,255 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Ares Capital stock opened at $21.75 on Wednesday. Ares Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $19.32 and a fifty-two week high of $22.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The company has a market capitalization of $14.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.37 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a fifty day moving average of $21.66 and a 200 day moving average of $21.12.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.45 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.83%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is 73.85%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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