Demars Financial Group LLC Decreases Stock Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Demars Financial Group LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 77.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,579 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 84,175 shares during the quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $492,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in Ares Capital by 411.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 1,952 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,570 shares in the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 137.2% during the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 2,142 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 1,239 shares in the last quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 59.3% during the 4th quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC now owns 2,351 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the 4th quarter worth about $51,000. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

ARCC opened at $20.75 on Wednesday. Ares Capital Co. has a 12-month low of $17.53 and a 12-month high of $20.86. The stock has a market cap of $12.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.77 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50 day moving average of $20.33 and a 200-day moving average of $19.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The investment management company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $707.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $669.78 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.50% and a net margin of 58.22%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.68 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.25%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.91%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ARCC. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, B. Riley downgraded Ares Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.80.

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.