Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC Sells 7,647 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC cut its stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 9.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 70,034 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 7,647 shares during the period. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,533,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,489,552 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,836,573 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $80,338,000 after purchasing an additional 63,999 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 2,104.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,613,285 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $756,620,000 after purchasing an additional 3,449,395 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,387,097 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $70,926,000 after purchasing an additional 104,710 shares during the period. 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 valued at $50,659,000 after purchasing an additional 96,992 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Ares Capital stock opened at $23.27 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.50 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.60. Ares Capital Co. has a 12-month low of $19.32 and a 12-month high of $23.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. Research analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is presently 78.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARCC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. B. Riley increased 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. Raymond James cut shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.94.

Ares Capital Company 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.