Ellis Investment Partners LLC Has $252,000 Stock Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Ellis Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 17.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,534 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 1,743 shares during the period. Ellis Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $252,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at $519,000. Round Rock Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at $1,512,000. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 507,374 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $11,208,000 after buying an additional 25,347 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Ares Capital by 24.3% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 650,163 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $13,900,000 after acquiring an additional 127,219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in Ares Capital by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 885,406 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $18,540,000 after acquiring an additional 38,559 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ARCC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James cut shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.94.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.8 %

Ares Capital stock opened at $23.27 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.63 billion, a PE ratio of 9.50 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50-day moving average is $22.48 and its 200-day moving average is $21.61. Ares Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $19.32 and a fifty-two week high of $23.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.2 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, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.25%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.