CWA Asset Management Group LLC Takes Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 10,659 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ARCC shares. JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. B. Riley upped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group upgraded shares of Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.86.

Ares Capital Stock Down 0.3 %

Ares Capital stock opened at $21.53 on Wednesday. Ares Capital Co. has a twelve month low of $19.32 and a twelve month high of $22.05. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $21.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $20.99. The company has a market capitalization of $13.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.28 and a beta of 1.01. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.45 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 53.71% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.85%.

Ares Capital Company 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.