Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Stake Lessened by Quantbot Technologies LP

Quantbot Technologies LP trimmed its stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 11.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 227,316 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 30,802 shares during the quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $4,733,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARCC. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Ares Capital in the first quarter worth $86,227,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 1,865.8% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,214,991 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $844,260,000 after buying an additional 4,000,570 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Ares Capital by 17.4% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 9,719,943 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $202,369,000 after acquiring an additional 1,437,864 shares during the period. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 4,876.0% in the first quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 574,978 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $11,971,000 after acquiring an additional 563,423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edge Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 2,057.7% in the fourth quarter. Edge Capital Group LLC now owns 526,258 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $10,541,000 after acquiring an additional 501,868 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $21.19. 3,456,288 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,494,659. Ares Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $18.55 and a fifty-two week high of $21.84. The firm has a market cap of $13.02 billion, a PE ratio of 7.27 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $21.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The investment management company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.60 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a net margin of 62.77% and a return on equity of 12.37%. The firm had revenue of $701.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $703.85 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.56 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.06%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARCC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.50 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.50.

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.