Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Stock Position Lifted by Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. lifted its position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 7.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 165,109 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,483 shares during the quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $3,614,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Horizon Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Ares Capital in the third quarter worth $28,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 56.8% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,510 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 909 shares during the period. Montag A & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 92.6% in the 4th quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 2,889 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 1,389 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 200.0% during the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 3,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $67,000. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of Ares Capital stock opened at $23.40 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $22.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.67. Ares Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $19.32 and a fifty-two week high of $23.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The company has a market cap of $15.71 billion, a PE ratio of 9.55 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. Analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James downgraded shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. B. Riley raised 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. StockNews.com cut Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.94.

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.