Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC Has $296,000 Stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 17.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,500 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $296,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC raised its stake in Ares Capital by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC now owns 69,689 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,526,000 after acquiring an additional 1,598 shares during the period. Sfmg LLC raised its stake in Ares Capital by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 444,118 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $9,722,000 after acquiring an additional 4,615 shares during the period. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Ares Capital by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 40,697 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $891,000 after acquiring an additional 1,089 shares during the period. Oxford Financial Group LTD. LLC bought a new stake in Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at $230,000. Finally, Palogic Value Management L.P. raised its stake in Ares Capital by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Palogic Value Management L.P. now owns 104,565 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,289,000 after acquiring an additional 4,970 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on ARCC. Raymond James cut Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.94.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

NASDAQ ARCC opened at $21.76 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.88 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.92. Ares Capital Co. has a 1 year low of $19.32 and a 1 year high of $23.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.82%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is 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.