Baillie Gifford & Co. Decreases Holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Baillie Gifford & Co. cut its stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 62.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 342,395 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 571,244 shares during the quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $7,170,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Confluence Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Ares Capital by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,836,573 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $80,338,000 after acquiring an additional 63,999 shares in the last quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 151.4% during the second quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 45,698 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $952,000 after purchasing an additional 27,523 shares in the last quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 period. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,101,000. Finally, Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Ares Capital by 32.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 211,797 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $4,435,000 after buying an additional 52,007 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on ARCC shares. UBS Group upgraded Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Monday, August 5th. B. Riley upped their target price on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JMP Securities raised their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Compass Point raised shares of Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.86.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Ares Capital stock opened at $21.54 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Ares Capital Co. has a 12 month low of $19.32 and a 12 month high of $22.05. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $21.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.99. The company has a market cap of $13.92 billion, a PE ratio of 8.28 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a net margin of 53.71% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The business had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $770.45 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 8.91%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 73.85%.

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.