Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. decreased its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 23.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,700 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 9,905 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $655,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ARCC. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 411.0% in the third quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 1,952 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,570 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Ares Capital by 93.9% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,922 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 931 shares during the period. Activest Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 137.2% in the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 2,142 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 1,239 shares in the last quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 59.3% during the fourth quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC now owns 2,351 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 875 shares during the period. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at $51,000. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ ARCC opened at $20.95 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $20.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.11. Ares Capital Co. has a 12 month low of $18.00 and a 12 month high of $21.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The company has a market capitalization of $12.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.16 and a beta of 0.99.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The investment management company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $701.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $703.85 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.37% and a net margin of 62.77%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.56 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.16%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 65.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARCC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $21.50 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.43.

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.