42,674 Ares Capital Corporation $ARCC Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. cut its stake in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,673,372 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 42,674 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $31,961,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the third quarter valued at approximately $104,000. Intrua Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Intrua Financial LLC now owns 37,539 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $717,000 after acquiring an additional 607 shares during the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC grew its position in Ares Capital by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 20,200 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $386,000 after purchasing an additional 1,354 shares during the period. Left Brain Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the third quarter worth $2,050,000. Finally, Soltis Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the 3rd quarter valued at about $424,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on ARCC. Wall Street Zen lowered Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 31st. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.39.

Ares Capital Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC opened at $19.35 on Friday. Ares Capital Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $17.40 and a fifty-two week high of $21.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The company has a market cap of $13.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.86 and a beta of 0.60. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $19.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.00.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 27th. The investment management company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.02). Ares Capital had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 9.72%. The business had revenue of $763.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $776.34 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. Ares Capital’s revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ares Capital Corporation will post 1.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 29th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 15th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 15th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.9%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 157.38%.

About Ares Capital

Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: ARCC) is a business development company that provides financing to middle-market companies. The company primarily invests in first-lien senior secured loans, second-lien loans, subordinated debt, and, to a lesser extent, equity securities. Its investments are generally designed to support acquisitions, recapitalizations, refinancings, growth initiatives, and other corporate activities.

Founded in 2004, Ares Capital is externally managed by Ares Capital Management LLC, an affiliate of Ares Management Corporation.