Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) is Sage Advisors LLC’s 2nd Largest Position

Sage Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 910,625 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 39,017 shares during the period. Ares Capital comprises about 15.0% of Sage Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Sage Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $19,068,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 19.6% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 11,990 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $250,000 after acquiring an additional 1,966 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 18.6% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 44,656 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $930,000 after purchasing an additional 6,992 shares in the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the first quarter worth about $223,000. Partners Group Holding AG grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 56.2% in the first quarter. Partners Group Holding AG now owns 906,486 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $18,873,000 after buying an additional 326,184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 21,527 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $448,000 after buying an additional 695 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Ares Capital Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of Ares Capital stock opened at $21.51 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $21.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.00. Ares Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $19.32 and a fifty-two week high of $22.05. The firm has a market cap of $13.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.27 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $770.45 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 53.71% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The business’s revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. On average, 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend 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.