Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Has $2.02 Million Stock Holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 50.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 92,384 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 30,775 shares during the quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $2,022,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 56.2% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 181,631 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,976,000 after purchasing an additional 65,340 shares during the period. Almanack Investment Partners LLC. raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 72.4% during the fourth quarter. Almanack Investment Partners LLC. now owns 33,099 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $725,000 after buying an additional 13,895 shares during the last quarter. TFG Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 29.1% in the fourth quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 52,753 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,155,000 after buying an additional 11,884 shares in the last quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 41.7% during the fourth quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC now owns 168,073 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,679,000 after buying an additional 49,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Platform Technology Partners increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 27,450 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $601,000 after acquiring an additional 867 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of ARCC opened at $22.74 on Monday. Ares Capital Co. has a 52-week low of $19.32 and a 52-week high of $23.84. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.28 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. Research analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.44%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 78.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ARCC has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday. 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. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. B. Riley increased their price target on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.94.

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.