Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC Lowers Holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC decreased its holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 77,363 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 2,620 shares during the period. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,550,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Intellectus Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 61.5% in the 4th quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC now owns 36,827 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $738,000 after purchasing an additional 14,020 shares in the last quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC now owns 274,975 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $5,508,000 after purchasing an additional 11,440 shares in the last quarter. Bruni J V & Co. Co. increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Bruni J V & Co. Co. now owns 1,398,203 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $28,006,000 after purchasing an additional 6,001 shares in the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 108,577 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,175,000 after purchasing an additional 557 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter worth $172,000. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on ARCC shares. B. Riley lowered Ares Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, January 8th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.80.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ARCC traded up $0.15 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $20.78. 2,640,447 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,468,332. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $20.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.02. Ares Capital Co. has a one year low of $17.53 and a one year high of $20.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market cap of $12.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.78 and a beta of 1.00.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The investment management company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.03. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.50% and a net margin of 58.22%. The business had revenue of $707.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $669.78 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. Ares Capital’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.24%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 71.91%.

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.