18,380 Shares in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Bought by Gentry Private Wealth LLC

Gentry Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 18,380 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $383,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Ares Capital by 20.2% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 11,681,109 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $243,434,000 after buying an additional 1,961,166 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital in the first quarter worth $86,227,000. Advisors Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Ares Capital by 7.8% in the first quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 3,099,134 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $64,524,000 after purchasing an additional 223,245 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its holdings in Ares Capital by 3.8% in the second quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,138,203 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $44,560,000 after purchasing an additional 78,140 shares during the period. Finally, CCLA Investment Management grew its holdings in Ares Capital by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 2,047,849 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $41,105,000 after purchasing an additional 24,302 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Compass Point upgraded shares of Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Monday, August 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.71.

Ares Capital Stock Down 1.6 %

ARCC opened at $20.52 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The company’s 50-day moving average is $20.84 and its 200 day moving average is $20.75. 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 capitalization of $12.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.03 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The investment management company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.03. Ares Capital had a net margin of 59.76% and a return on equity of 12.24%. The company had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $714.27 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.58 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is currently 65.75%.

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.