Naples Global Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Naples Global Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 59,385 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 750 shares during the period. Naples Global Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,300,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 30,749 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $644,000 after acquiring an additional 2,184 shares during the period. FLC Capital Advisors boosted its position in Ares Capital by 50.4% during the third quarter. FLC Capital Advisors now owns 28,899 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $605,000 after purchasing an additional 9,683 shares in the last quarter. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital in the third quarter valued at approximately $243,000. Secure Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 35.3% in the third quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 14,704 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $308,000 after buying an additional 3,840 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 1.2% in the third quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 43,609 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $913,000 after buying an additional 531 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James cut shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. B. Riley raised their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.94.

Ares Capital Price Performance

NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $23.08 on Friday. Ares Capital Co. has a one year low of $19.32 and a one year high of $23.84. The stock has a market cap of $15.50 billion, a PE ratio of 9.42 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $22.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.21.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. Equities research analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.