RFG Advisory LLC Purchases 1,404 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

RFG Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 6.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,675 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,404 shares during the quarter. RFG Advisory LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $474,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at $1,431,000. D.B. Root & Company LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the third quarter valued at $1,260,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at $123,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 29.8% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 241,231 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $4,697,000 after purchasing an additional 55,386 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the third quarter valued at $278,000. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on ARCC. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, B. Riley downgraded shares of Ares Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.80.

Ares Capital Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of Ares Capital stock opened at $20.28 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $12.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.60 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. Ares Capital Co. has a 12-month low of $17.53 and a 12-month high of $20.86. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $20.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.92.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The investment management company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $707.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $669.78 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 58.22% and a return on equity of 12.50%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.47%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 71.91%.

About Ares Capital

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.