GoalVest Advisory LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

GoalVest Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 5.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 59,455 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,133 shares during the period. GoalVest Advisory LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,245,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Ares Capital by 62.7% in the second quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,233 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares during the period. Asset Dedication LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital during the second quarter valued at $32,000. nVerses Capital LLC grew its holdings in Ares Capital by 88.9% during the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 1,700 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital in the second quarter worth about $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ARCC shares. B. Riley boosted their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group raised shares of Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.86.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

ARCC opened at $21.51 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.27 and a beta of 1.01. Ares Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $19.32 and a fifty-two week high of $22.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The company has a fifty day moving average of $21.09 and a 200 day moving average of $21.00.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.45 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 53.71%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.93%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.