Ares Capital Corporation $ARCC Stock: Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Decreases Position

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. cut its position in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 54.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 90,066 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 106,005 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,720,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Ares Capital by 22.2% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 13,306,095 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $246,562,000 after purchasing an additional 2,418,984 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio purchased a new position in Ares Capital in the 1st quarter valued at $189,210,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 16.0% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,135,454 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $164,621,000 after purchasing an additional 1,259,230 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Ares Capital in the 2nd quarter valued at $120,538,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,870,130 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $71,714,000 after purchasing an additional 335,197 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ARCC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $19.00 to $18.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.39.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of ARCC stock opened at $18.59 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Ares Capital Corporation has a twelve month low of $17.40 and a twelve month high of $21.14. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $19.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.96. The stock has a market cap of $13.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.77 and a beta of 0.61.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The investment management company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Ares Capital had a net margin of 30.91% and a return on equity of 9.80%. The firm had revenue of $768.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $770.19 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ares Capital Corporation will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.3%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 15th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is presently 142.22%.

About Ares Capital

Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: ARCC) is a specialty finance company that operates as a business development company (BDC). It provides financing to middle-market companies, primarily through directly originated loans and other investments. Ares Capital seeks to support businesses that may require capital for acquisitions, growth initiatives, recapitalizations, refinancings and other corporate purposes.

The company invests across a range of industries and typically provides first-lien senior secured loans, second-lien loans, subordinated debt and, to a lesser extent, equity investments.