Cetera Advisors LLC Acquires 133,759 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 54.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 378,052 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 133,759 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC owned 0.06% of Ares Capital worth $7,871,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Ares Capital by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 582,578 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $12,129,000 after buying an additional 29,671 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 389,236 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $7,913,000 after purchasing an additional 20,202 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its position in Ares Capital by 614.8% in the 4th quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 7,198 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $144,000 after purchasing an additional 6,191 shares during the period. NewEdge Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at $1,497,000. Finally, Gilbert & Cook Inc. raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 1,384,752 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $27,737,000 after buying an additional 85,561 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARCC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. JMP Securities raised their target price on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.50 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.71.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $20.29 on Friday. Ares Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $18.55 and a fifty-two week high of $21.84. The company’s 50-day moving average is $21.02 and its 200 day moving average is $20.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.40. The company has a market capitalization of $12.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.95 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The investment management company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $714.27 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 59.76% and a return on equity of 12.24%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.58 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 12th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.46%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.75%.

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.