Ares Capital Corporation $ARCC Shares Bought by Wealthfront Advisers LLC

Wealthfront Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 127.7% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 48,431 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 27,161 shares during the quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,064,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Elequin Capital LP acquired a new position in Ares Capital during the first quarter worth about $30,000. CNB Bank acquired a new position in Ares Capital during the second quarter worth about $36,000. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Ares Capital during the second quarter worth about $38,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Investment Management Corp VA ADV increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 193.9% during the 1st quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV now owns 1,828 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,206 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on ARCC shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $21.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. JMP Securities set a $23.00 price target on Ares Capital and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. B. Riley upgraded Ares Capital from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $22.50 to $23.50 in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Ares Capital from $22.50 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 19th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.25.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Ares Capital stock opened at $20.35 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $20.88 and its 200-day moving average is $21.54. The company has a market cap of $14.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.18 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Ares Capital Corporation has a 12 month low of $18.26 and a 12 month high of $23.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The investment management company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. The company had revenue of $658.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $766.48 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 10.08% and a net margin of 45.16%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.58 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Corporation will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 96.00%.

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.