Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Position Decreased by WealthPLAN Partners LLC

WealthPLAN Partners LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 14.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,260 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 2,543 shares during the period. WealthPLAN Partners LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $334,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in ARCC. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $309,649,000 after acquiring an additional 1,489,552 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 1.7% in the third quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,836,573 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $80,338,000 after acquiring an additional 63,999 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 2,104.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,613,285 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $756,620,000 after acquiring an additional 3,449,395 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 3.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,387,097 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $70,926,000 after acquiring an additional 104,710 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,314,269 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $50,659,000 after acquiring an additional 96,992 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James cut shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ares Capital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.94.

Ares Capital Price Performance

NASDAQ ARCC opened at $23.27 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.63 billion, a PE ratio of 9.50 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $22.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.60. Ares Capital Co. has a 12-month low of $19.32 and a 12-month high of $23.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share (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%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.25%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is 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.