Maridea Wealth Management LLC Makes New Investment in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Maridea Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 31,345 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $686,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Ares Capital by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $309,649,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489,552 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 26.0% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,268,547 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $93,439,000 after purchasing an additional 881,450 shares during the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new position in Ares Capital in the 4th quarter worth about $84,426,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at about $58,159,000. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its stake in Ares Capital by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,314,269 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $50,659,000 after acquiring an additional 96,992 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ARCC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com lowered Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James lowered shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.94.

Ares Capital Trading Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ ARCC opened at $22.11 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $15.07 billion, a PE ratio of 9.02 and a beta of 1.00. Ares Capital Co. has a 52 week low of $19.32 and a 52 week high of $23.84. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $22.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.97.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.68%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 78.37%.

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.