Blair William & Co. IL Sells 12,528 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Blair William & Co. IL lessened its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 4.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 269,294 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 12,528 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $5,612,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 62.7% during the second quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,233 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 475 shares during the period. Asset Dedication LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 323.3% in the first quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 1,435 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096 shares during the last quarter. Pingora Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ares Capital during the second quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Ares Capital Trading Down 0.7 %

Ares Capital stock opened at $20.61 on Friday. 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 has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.06 and a beta of 1.01. Ares Capital Co. has a 52 week low of $18.55 and a 52 week high of $21.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its 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 business had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $714.27 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.58 EPS. Analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is presently 65.75%.

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.