SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC Purchases 5,905 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 9.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 71,464 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,905 shares during the quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,459,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ARCC. Cibc World Market Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 23.8% during the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 82,913 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,737,000 after purchasing an additional 15,957 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 59.1% in the 1st quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 30,205 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $633,000 after acquiring an additional 11,226 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 26.2% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 513,554 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $10,759,000 after purchasing an additional 106,704 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the first quarter valued at approximately $897,000. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 70.2% during the first quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 4,595 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 1,895 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ARCC shares. B. Riley lowered shares of Ares Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.80.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ARCC traded up $0.34 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $20.82. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,385,573 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,857,399. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24. Ares Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $17.53 and a fifty-two week high of $20.86. The company has a market capitalization of $12.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.79 and a beta of 0.99.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The investment management company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $707.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $669.78 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 58.22% and a return on equity of 12.50%. The company’s revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.22%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.91%.

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.