Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Sells 20,753 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lessened its stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,510,691 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 20,753 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned approximately 0.22% of Ares Capital worth $33,069,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ARCC. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Ares Capital by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $309,649,000 after acquiring an additional 1,489,552 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 26.0% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,268,547 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $93,439,000 after purchasing an additional 881,450 shares in the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $84,426,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $58,159,000. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,314,269 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $50,659,000 after buying an additional 96,992 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ARCC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James cut Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.94.

Ares Capital Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of ARCC stock opened at $22.11 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $22.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.97. Ares Capital Co. has a 12-month low of $19.32 and a 12-month high of $23.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market cap of $15.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.02 and a beta of 1.00.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.68%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 78.37%.

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.