Naviter Wealth LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Naviter Wealth LLC decreased its stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 0.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 801,547 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 6,320 shares during the quarter. Ares Capital makes up 2.3% of Naviter Wealth LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Naviter Wealth LLC owned 0.13% of Ares Capital worth $16,784,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New Hampshire grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New Hampshire now owns 91,519 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,905,000 after buying an additional 7,667 shares in the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC increased its position in Ares Capital by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 26,097 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $543,000 after purchasing an additional 2,422 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 214,662 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $4,377,000 after purchasing an additional 4,228 shares in the last quarter. Aua Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Aua Capital Management LLC now owns 27,590 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $574,000 after purchasing an additional 1,235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 9.0% in the 1st quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 308,645 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $6,426,000 after purchasing an additional 25,440 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Ares Capital Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of ARCC stock traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $21.52. 192,629 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,403,417. Ares Capital Co. has a 1 year low of $18.55 and a 1 year high of $21.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market cap of $13.22 billion, a PE ratio of 7.39 and a beta of 1.01. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $20.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.86.

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

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.92%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 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.