Verity Asset Management Inc. Increases Holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Verity Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 25.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 43,972 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 8,962 shares during the period. Verity Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $921,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SteelPeak Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 151.4% in the second quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 45,698 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $952,000 after acquiring an additional 27,523 shares during the last quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its stake in Ares Capital by 4.6% in the third quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 681,724 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $14,275,000 after purchasing an additional 29,786 shares during the last quarter. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital during the third quarter valued at $2,101,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Ares Capital by 206.7% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 55,516 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,156,000 after buying an additional 37,412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Inc. OK raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 3.2% in the third quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 1,440,716 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $30,169,000 after buying an additional 44,235 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday. JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. B. Riley lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Compass Point raised Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.86.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

NASDAQ ARCC opened at $21.33 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.20 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. Ares Capital Co. has a 52-week low of $19.32 and a 52-week high of $22.05. The company has a fifty day moving average of $21.02 and a 200-day moving average of $20.96.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $770.45 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 53.71%. Ares Capital’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.00%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 73.85%.

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.