SlateStone Wealth LLC Grows Stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

SlateStone Wealth LLC lifted its position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 5.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 220,949 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 12,003 shares during the period. SlateStone Wealth LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $4,426,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ARCC. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 66,849 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,276,000 after buying an additional 3,090 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 470.8% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 90,541 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,763,000 after buying an additional 74,678 shares during the last quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC now owns 17,981 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $350,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 13,978 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $262,000 after buying an additional 744 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Naples Global Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 53,135 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,035,000 after purchasing an additional 7,550 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.0 %

ARCC opened at $20.75 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $12.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.77 and a beta of 1.00. Ares Capital Co. has a 12 month low of $17.53 and a 12 month high of $20.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $20.33 and a 200 day moving average of $19.99.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The investment management company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.03. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.50% and a net margin of 58.22%. The business had revenue of $707.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $669.78 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.25%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.91%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on ARCC. B. Riley cut Ares Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.80.

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.