Brandywine Oak Private Wealth LLC Decreases Stock Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Brandywine Oak Private Wealth LLC lessened its holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 25.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,159 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 4,935 shares during the quarter. Brandywine Oak Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $310,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 8.3% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 12,656,154 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $272,107,000 after buying an additional 975,045 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 63,999 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 2,104.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,613,285 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $756,620,000 after buying an additional 3,449,395 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Ares Capital by 3.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,387,097 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $70,926,000 after buying an additional 104,710 shares during the period. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its holdings in Ares Capital by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,314,269 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $50,659,000 after buying an additional 96,992 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $23.10 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $14.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.88 and a beta of 1.01. Ares Capital Co. has a twelve month low of $19.32 and a twelve month high of $23.84. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $22.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.51. 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 (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 53.71%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.31%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ARCC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com upgraded Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, B. Riley upped their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.79.

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.