Kovack Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Kovack Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 18.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 37,401 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 5,784 shares during the quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $749,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,431,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,497,000. D.B. Root & Company LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,260,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $123,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 29.8% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 241,231 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $4,697,000 after buying an additional 55,386 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, B. Riley lowered Ares Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 price target on the stock. in a report 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.80.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

NASDAQ ARCC opened at $20.78 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $12.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.78 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $20.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.02. Ares Capital Co. has a 1-year low of $17.53 and a 1-year high of $20.86.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The investment management company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.03. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.50% and a net margin of 58.22%. The company had revenue of $707.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $669.78 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 EPS. Ares Capital’s revenue was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.24%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.91%.

Ares Capital 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.