WESPAC Advisors LLC Sells 574 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

WESPAC Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 35,397 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 574 shares during the quarter. WESPAC Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $741,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ARCC. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 62.7% in the second quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,233 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ares Capital by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 32,691 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $681,000 after buying an additional 499 shares during the last quarter. JBR Co Financial Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. JBR Co Financial Management Inc now owns 33,047 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $692,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 1.2% during the third quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 43,609 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $913,000 after acquiring an additional 531 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 3.9% during the second quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 14,428 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $301,000 after acquiring an additional 542 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Compass Point upgraded Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Monday, August 5th. JMP Securities increased 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, B. Riley upped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.86.

Ares Capital Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC opened at $22.02 on Friday. Ares Capital Co. has a 52-week low of $19.32 and a 52-week high of $22.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market cap of $14.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.47 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $21.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.04.

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

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.72%. 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.