Financial Counselors Inc. Sells 649 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Financial Counselors Inc. cut its position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 33,382 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 649 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $731,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth $48,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth $60,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 92.6% during the 4th quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 2,889 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 200.0% in the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 3,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on ARCC. StockNews.com cut Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James lowered shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.94.

Ares Capital Trading Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ ARCC opened at $22.11 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $22.80 and a 200 day moving average of $21.97. The company has a market capitalization of $15.07 billion, a PE ratio of 9.02 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21. Ares Capital Co. has a 1 year low of $19.32 and a 1 year high of $23.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its 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 return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. Research analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.