Accel Wealth Management Buys 898 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Accel Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 46,678 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 898 shares during the period. Accel Wealth Management’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,022,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of ARCC. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 24.3% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 650,163 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $13,900,000 after purchasing an additional 127,219 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 4.6% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 885,406 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $18,540,000 after buying an additional 38,559 shares during the period. CCLA Investment Management boosted its position in Ares Capital by 31.6% during the 4th quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 2,211,955 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $48,419,000 after acquiring an additional 531,305 shares in the last quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company now owns 354,237 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $7,754,000 after acquiring an additional 35,659 shares during the period. Finally, Confluence Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,836,573 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $80,338,000 after acquiring an additional 63,999 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Ares Capital stock opened at $23.43 on Friday. Ares Capital Co. has a 12-month low of $19.32 and a 12-month high of $23.53. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.01 and a beta of 1.00.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $770.45 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 53.71%. The business’s revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.59 EPS. Analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.19%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ARCC. StockNews.com raised Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. B. Riley lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ares Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.29.

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.