Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Sold by Duncker Streett & Co. Inc.

Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. trimmed its stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 5.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 62,527 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 3,404 shares during the quarter. Duncker Streett & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,369,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ARCC. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 31,635 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $661,000 after acquiring an additional 712 shares during the last quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 7.0% during the third quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 18,463 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $387,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 3.2% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 1,440,716 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $30,169,000 after buying an additional 44,235 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 4.8% during the third quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 482,027 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $10,364,000 after buying an additional 22,047 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clear Creek Financial Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 6.3% during the third quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 175,653 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,678,000 after buying an additional 10,364 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARCC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James downgraded Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.94.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC opened at $23.38 on Friday. Ares Capital Co. has a one year low of $19.32 and a one year high of $23.84. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $22.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.80. The company has a market capitalization of $15.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.54 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. Analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.21%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 78.37%.

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.