Clayton Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 40,000 Ares Capital Corporation $ARCC

Clayton Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 40,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $809,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Partners Group Holding AG lifted its stake in Ares Capital by 4.8% in the third quarter. Partners Group Holding AG now owns 1,767,154 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $36,068,000 after buying an additional 80,885 shares in the last quarter. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,314,000. Prevail Innovative Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,430,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its stake in Ares Capital by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,616,789 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $54,691,000 after buying an additional 138,857 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tectonic Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 662,533 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $13,403,000 after purchasing an additional 64,491 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on ARCC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 13th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. B. Riley Financial cut their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective (down from $20.00) on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.65.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of ARCC opened at $18.10 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $13.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.10 and a beta of 0.56. Ares Capital Corporation has a 1-year low of $17.40 and a 1-year high of $23.42. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The investment management company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $763.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $778.00 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 37.30%.Ares Capital’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Ares Capital Corporation will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is presently 117.79%.

About Ares Capital

Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: ARCC) is a publicly traded business development company (BDC) that specializes in providing debt and equity financing solutions to U.S. middle-market companies. As a BDC, Ares Capital offers investors access to a diversified portfolio of tailored credit investments, including senior secured loans, unitranche financing, mezzanine debt and equity co-investments. The firm’s flexible capital structures are designed to support companies seeking growth capital, refinancing or strategic acquisitions.

Through its credit platform, Ares Capital focuses on originations, underwriting and portfolio management across a range of industries, with a particular emphasis on sectors such as healthcare, technology, industrials and business services.