Bard Associates Inc. Sells 871 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Bard Associates Inc. reduced its position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 21,384 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 871 shares during the period. Bard Associates Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $468,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ARCC. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 1,489,552 shares in the last quarter. CCLA Investment Management raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 31.6% in the fourth quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 2,211,955 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $48,419,000 after purchasing an additional 531,305 shares in the last quarter. Columbus Macro LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth about $8,870,000. Vista Finance LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth about $8,413,000. Finally, LGT Group Foundation bought a new position in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth about $8,397,000. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $23.23 on Tuesday. Ares Capital Co. has a twelve month low of $19.32 and a twelve month high of $23.84. The company’s 50 day moving average is $22.84 and its 200 day moving average is $21.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The company has a market cap of $15.60 billion, a PE ratio of 9.48 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.27%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 78.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on ARCC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. 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 report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.94.

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.