LSV Asset Management Lowers Holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

LSV Asset Management reduced its stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 1.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,714,886 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 29,355 shares during the quarter. LSV Asset Management owned approximately 0.27% of Ares Capital worth $35,738,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ARCC. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Ares Capital by 62.7% during the 2nd quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,233 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 1.6% in the second quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 32,691 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $681,000 after purchasing an additional 499 shares during the period. Lewis Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 2.1% in the first quarter. Lewis Asset Management LLC now owns 24,805 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $516,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Chapin Davis Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 2.2% in the first quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 22,966 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $478,000 after purchasing an additional 501 shares during the period. Finally, Lincoln National Corp increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 17,665 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $354,000 after purchasing an additional 520 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on ARCC shares. JMP Securities raised their target price on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group upgraded Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Compass Point upgraded Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.71.

Ares Capital Price Performance

ARCC stock opened at $20.57 on Tuesday. Ares Capital Co. has a 1 year low of $18.55 and a 1 year high of $21.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $20.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.76. The firm has a market cap of $12.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.04 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued 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. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.24% and a net margin of 59.76%. The company had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $714.27 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.58 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.33%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 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.