Brendel Financial Advisors LLC Purchases 2,626 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Brendel Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 102,972 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 2,626 shares during the period. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $2,254,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Ares Capital by 24.3% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 650,163 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $13,900,000 after purchasing an additional 127,219 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in Ares Capital by 4.6% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 885,406 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $18,540,000 after purchasing an additional 38,559 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Ares Capital by 1.7% during the third 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 last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in Ares Capital by 25.1% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 222,101 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $4,651,000 after purchasing an additional 44,548 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Ares Capital by 32.5% during the third quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 211,797 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $4,435,000 after purchasing an additional 52,007 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Ares Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, B. Riley raised their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.29.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Ares Capital stock opened at $22.43 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $21.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.49 billion, a PE ratio of 8.63 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. Ares Capital Co. has a 12-month low of $19.32 and a 12-month high of $22.43.

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

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.56%. 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.