Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC Buys 2,184 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,749 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,184 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $644,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ARCC. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 20.2% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 11,681,109 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $243,434,000 after purchasing an additional 1,961,166 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 143.9% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 820,390 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $17,081,000 after buying an additional 484,088 shares in the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the second quarter valued at about $9,815,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 52.7% in the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,354,097 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $28,192,000 after purchasing an additional 467,535 shares during the period. Finally, Allen Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 33.5% during the first quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 1,664,312 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $34,651,000 after acquiring an additional 417,537 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on ARCC shares. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Compass Point upgraded shares of Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group upgraded Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.71.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of Ares Capital stock opened at $21.65 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $13.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.41 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $20.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40. Ares Capital Co. has a one year low of $18.55 and a one year high of $21.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The investment management company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $714.27 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.24% and a net margin of 59.76%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.58 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.87%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.75%.

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.