HUB Investment Partners LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

HUB Investment Partners LLC decreased its position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 9.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 49,070 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 4,970 shares during the period. HUB Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,074,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $309,649,000 after buying an additional 1,489,552 shares during the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at about $84,426,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,387,097 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $70,926,000 after buying an additional 104,710 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at about $58,159,000. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,314,269 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $50,659,000 after buying an additional 96,992 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Ares Capital Trading Down 0.1 %

ARCC stock opened at $21.73 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. Ares Capital Co. has a 12-month low of $19.32 and a 12-month high of $23.84. The stock has a market cap of $14.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.87 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s 50-day moving average is $22.85 and its 200 day moving average is $21.91.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 78.37%.

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.