WCG Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases New Position in Ares Capital Corporation $ARCC

WCG Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 106,756 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,344,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mackenzie Financial Corp bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the first quarter valued at approximately $928,000. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Ares Capital by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 44,866 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $994,000 after purchasing an additional 1,810 shares in the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association raised its position in Ares Capital by 11.3% in the 1st quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 12,691 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $281,000 after purchasing an additional 1,287 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 5.3% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 295,602 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $6,551,000 after purchasing an additional 14,897 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 10.9% during the first quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 1,259,805 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $27,917,000 after purchasing an additional 124,196 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Ares Capital stock opened at $20.64 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $14.77 billion, a PE ratio of 10.32 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Ares Capital Corporation has a 1 year low of $18.26 and a 1 year high of $23.84. The company’s 50-day moving average is $20.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.45.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The investment management company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. Ares Capital had a net margin of 45.16% and a return on equity of 10.08%. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $766.48 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.58 earnings per share. Ares Capital’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Corporation will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 96.00%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Michael Kort Schnabel acquired 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 31st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $20.39 per share, with a total value of $265,070.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 28,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $570,920. This trade represents a 86.67% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Capital One Financial set a $22.50 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Friday, October 10th. 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 note on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Monday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 19th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.25.

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.