XML Financial LLC Has $386,000 Stock Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

XML Financial LLC lessened its holdings in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 15.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,638 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 3,231 shares during the quarter. XML Financial LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $386,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ARCC. Commons Capital LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at about $219,000. Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 31,557 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $691,000 after purchasing an additional 1,639 shares during the last quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Ares Capital by 133.9% during the 4th quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 30,403 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $666,000 after purchasing an additional 17,405 shares in the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Ares Capital by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 37,086 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $812,000 after purchasing an additional 567 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prairiewood Capital LLC lifted its stake in Ares Capital by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Prairiewood Capital LLC now owns 180,842 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $3,959,000 after purchasing an additional 10,779 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Ares Capital stock opened at $23.38 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $22.04 and its 200 day moving average is $21.34. Ares Capital Co. has a one year low of $19.32 and a one year high of $23.47. The firm has a market cap of $15.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.99 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

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

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.21%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is currently 73.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. B. Riley upped their price target 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. StockNews.com raised Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Ares Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.29.

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.