Gilbert & Cook Inc. Sells 336,296 Shares of Ares Capital Corporation $ARCC

Gilbert & Cook Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 25.0% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,006,603 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 336,296 shares during the quarter. Ares Capital accounts for 3.0% of Gilbert & Cook Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Gilbert & Cook Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $22,105,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $877,203,000. Confluence Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 0.6% in the second quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,796,791 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $83,378,000 after purchasing an additional 21,344 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 3.0% in the first quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 3,627,990 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $80,396,000 after purchasing an additional 104,339 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 9.0% during the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 3,567,816 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $79,063,000 after purchasing an additional 293,442 shares during the period. Finally, Allen Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 8.4% during the first quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 2,975,197 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $65,930,000 after purchasing an additional 230,924 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ares Capital Stock Up 1.0%

ARCC stock opened at $20.35 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $14.57 billion, a PE ratio of 10.18 and a beta of 0.68. Ares Capital Corporation has a 12 month low of $18.26 and a 12 month high of $23.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.55.

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

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.4%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 96.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on ARCC. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. B. Riley upgraded shares of Ares Capital from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $22.50 to $23.50 in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen raised Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, October 19th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Ares Capital from $22.50 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.25.

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.