SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC Acquires 5,905 Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 9.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 71,464 shares of the investment management company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,905 shares during the period. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $1,459,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of ARCC. LGT Capital Partners LTD. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. LGT Capital Partners LTD. now owns 667,500 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $13,370,000 after purchasing an additional 37,500 shares during the last quarter. Accel Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at about $535,000. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at about $335,000. PFG Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth about $200,000. Finally, Tectonic Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 260,330 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $5,214,000 after purchasing an additional 18,743 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of Ares Capital stock traded up $0.34 during trading on Thursday, hitting $20.82. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,385,573 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,857,399. Ares Capital Co. has a 52 week low of $17.53 and a 52 week high of $20.86. The company has a market capitalization of $12.63 billion, a PE ratio of 7.79 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The investment management company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.03. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.50% and a net margin of 58.22%. The company had revenue of $707.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $669.78 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.68 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.22%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ARCC shares. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Tuesday. B. Riley cut shares of Ares Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.80.

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.