Sowell Financial Services LLC Increases Stake in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Sowell Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,464 shares of the investment management company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,050 shares during the quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $820,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ARCC. Horizon Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the third quarter worth about $28,000. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $48,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 92.6% during the fourth quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 2,889 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389 shares during the period. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 200.0% in the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 3,000 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Ares Capital stock opened at $22.45 on Tuesday. Ares Capital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $19.32 and a fifty-two week high of $23.84. The stock has a market cap of $15.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.16 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.21.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. As a group, analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.55%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 78.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ARCC shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Raymond James lowered Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ares Capital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.94.

Ares Capital Profile

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.