Verity Asset Management Inc. Has $921,000 Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Verity Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 25.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 43,972 shares of the investment management company’s stock after buying an additional 8,962 shares during the period. Verity Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $921,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 41.3% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 26,338 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $548,000 after buying an additional 7,695 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its stake in Ares Capital by 19.6% during the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 11,990 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 1,966 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Ares Capital by 206.7% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 55,516 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,156,000 after purchasing an additional 37,412 shares during the period. PFG Advisors increased its holdings in Ares Capital by 2.7% in the first quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 50,576 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,053,000 after purchasing an additional 1,318 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allen Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Ares Capital by 33.5% in the first quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 1,664,312 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $34,651,000 after buying an additional 417,537 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARCC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised shares of Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. B. Riley raised their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price target on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.86.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of Ares Capital stock opened at $21.33 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $13.78 billion, a PE ratio of 8.20 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. Ares Capital Co. has a 52 week low of $19.32 and a 52 week high of $22.05. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $21.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $20.96.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a net margin of 53.71% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The company had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.45 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.59 earnings per share. Ares Capital’s revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate 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 will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 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.