Guggenheim Capital LLC Raises Stock Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Guggenheim Capital LLC raised its position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 27.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 31,663 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,791 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $693,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ARCC. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Promus Capital LLC bought a new stake in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Ares Capital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $60,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 92.6% in the 4th quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 2,889 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 1,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 200.0% during the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 3,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on ARCC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.33.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of Ares Capital stock opened at $21.10 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.93. Ares Capital Co. has a 12-month low of $18.26 and a 12-month high of $23.84. The firm has a market cap of $14.44 billion, a PE ratio of 8.61 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.10%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.37%.

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.