Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Sold by Bank of New Hampshire

Bank of New Hampshire lowered its stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 3.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 81,307 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 3,028 shares during the quarter. Bank of New Hampshire’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,802,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Montag & Caldwell LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at about $48,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 4th quarter valued at about $60,000. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 92.6% during the 4th quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 2,889 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 1,389 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on ARCC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.00.

Ares Capital Stock Up 1.1%

NASDAQ ARCC opened at $22.19 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $15.40 billion, a PE ratio of 9.06 and a beta of 0.68. Ares Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $18.26 and a fifty-two week high of $23.84. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $21.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $599.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $769.32 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.65%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 93.66%.

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.