Golden State Wealth Management LLC Invests $421,000 in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 19,248 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $421,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brookstone Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the third quarter worth $266,000. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 21.1% during the 3rd quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 23,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $482,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 7.1% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 145,366 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,044,000 after buying an additional 9,590 shares during the last quarter. Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital during the third quarter worth approximately $228,000. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 98,350 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,059,000 after acquiring an additional 2,420 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARCC has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Raymond James downgraded shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.94.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC opened at $22.74 on Friday. Ares Capital Co. has a 1-year low of $19.32 and a 1-year high of $23.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.69 billion, a PE ratio of 8.75 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $22.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.53.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a net margin of 53.71% and a return on equity of 12.06%. On average, research analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 78.37%.

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.