Vista Investment Management Trims Stock Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Vista Investment Management cut its stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 9.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 13,549 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 1,480 shares during the quarter. Vista Investment Management’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $297,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Montag & Caldwell LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $48,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Ares Capital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $60,000. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. increased its position in 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 worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

ARCC opened at $21.91 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $15.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.94 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.91. Ares Capital Co. has a 1-year low of $18.26 and a 1-year high of $23.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.04). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. The firm had revenue of $599.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $769.32 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.76%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is currently 93.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on ARCC shares. UBS Group dropped their target price on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. StockNews.com cut Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Raymond James cut Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.00.

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.