abrdn plc Reduces Stock Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

abrdn plc reduced its stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 39,011 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 854 shares during the period. abrdn plc’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $816,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the second quarter valued at $26,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. nVerses Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 88.9% during the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 1,700 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the period. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARCC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group raised Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday. B. Riley upped their target price on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.86.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC opened at $20.88 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $21.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $20.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.29. Ares Capital Co. has a 52 week low of $19.32 and a 52 week high of $22.05. The firm has a market cap of $13.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a net margin of 53.71% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The business had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $770.45 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.59 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.20%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 73.85%.

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.