Trust Co. of Vermont Has $420,000 Stock Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Trust Co. of Vermont increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 33.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,181 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,799 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $420,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 13,362 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $293,000 after acquiring an additional 964 shares during the last quarter. Cypress Wealth Services LLC bought a new stake in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $403,000. Carnegie Investment Counsel raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 309,022 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $6,764,000 after purchasing an additional 16,857 shares during the period. Mirador Capital Partners LP boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP now owns 242,811 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $5,315,000 after purchasing an additional 3,217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 192,841 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $4,221,000 after buying an additional 2,970 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $23.18 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $14.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.92 and a beta of 1.00. Ares Capital Co. has a twelve month low of $19.32 and a twelve month high of $23.22. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $21.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 53.71%. The business had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $770.45 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.85%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised Ares Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. B. Riley lifted their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, StockNews.com raised Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.29.

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.