Strategic Financial Concepts LLC Invests $2.29 Million in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 104,567 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,289,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 2,104.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 3,449,395 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 12,656,154 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $272,107,000 after acquiring an additional 975,045 shares during the period. CCLA Investment Management boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 31.6% during the 4th quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 2,211,955 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $48,419,000 after acquiring an additional 531,305 shares during the period. Columbus Macro LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at about $8,870,000. Finally, Partners Group Holding AG boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter. Partners Group Holding AG now owns 1,787,401 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $37,428,000 after acquiring an additional 312,255 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ARCC shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Raymond James cut Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com lowered Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, B. Riley raised their target price on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.94.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of ARCC opened at $22.87 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.33 and a beta of 1.01. Ares Capital Co. has a one year low of $19.32 and a one year high of $23.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.21. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $22.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.55.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.40%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is currently 78.37%.

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.