MRP Capital Investments LLC Decreases Stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

MRP Capital Investments LLC lessened its stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 13.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 29,455 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 4,750 shares during the quarter. MRP Capital Investments LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $645,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Ares Capital by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 19,148 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $419,000 after buying an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC lifted its stake in Ares Capital by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC now owns 21,851 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $478,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 56,182 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,230,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the period. Western Financial Corp CA increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Western Financial Corp CA now owns 26,387 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $578,000 after purchasing an additional 564 shares during the period. Finally, Koshinski Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 37,086 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $812,000 after purchasing an additional 567 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James lowered Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on 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 upped their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com lowered Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.94.

Ares Capital Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $21.73 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. Ares Capital Co. has a 52-week low of $19.32 and a 52-week high of $23.84. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.91. The company has a market capitalization of $14.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.87 and a beta of 1.00.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders 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 yield of 8.84%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.