FSC Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

FSC Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 18.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,300 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the period. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $138,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Horizon Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Ares Capital by 56.8% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,510 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 909 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Ares Capital during the third quarter valued at about $67,000. Centennial Bank AR bought a new position in Ares Capital during the third quarter worth about $102,000. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 19.6% in the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,900 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $107,000 after purchasing an additional 803 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on ARCC shares. B. Riley lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com upgraded Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Ares Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.29.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of ARCC opened at $23.30 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $22.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.39. The company has a market cap of $15.05 billion, a PE ratio of 8.96 and a beta of 1.00. Ares Capital Co. has a 12-month low of $19.32 and a 12-month high of $23.53.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released 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 return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 53.71%. The company had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $770.45 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. Ares Capital’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is currently 73.85%.

About Ares Capital

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.