Bell Bank Has $8.96 Million Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Bell Bank cut its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 427,727 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 57,049 shares during the period. Ares Capital accounts for 1.1% of Bell Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Bell Bank owned 0.07% of Ares Capital worth $8,957,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in 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 valued at $272,107,000 after buying an additional 975,045 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Ares Capital by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,836,573 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $80,338,000 after acquiring an additional 63,999 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 2,104.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,613,285 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $756,620,000 after purchasing an additional 3,449,395 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in Ares Capital by 8.5% during the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 3,492,247 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $72,778,000 after purchasing an additional 273,025 shares during the period. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 3.7% in the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,217,277 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $46,430,000 after purchasing an additional 79,074 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Compass Point raised Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. B. Riley lifted their target price on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.86.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of Ares Capital stock opened at $21.54 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $21.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.28 and a beta of 1.01. Ares Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $19.32 and a fifty-two week high of $22.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a net margin of 53.71% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The firm had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $770.45 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.59 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is presently 73.85%.

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.