Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC Lowers Position in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC decreased its position in shares of Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) by 3.9% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 16,050 shares of the investment management company’s stock after selling 643 shares during the period. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Ares Capital were worth $356,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Montag & Caldwell LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at about $48,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at about $60,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its position in Ares Capital by 20.3% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 3,564 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 602 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on ARCC shares. B. Riley raised Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.00.

Ares Capital Price Performance

ARCC stock opened at $21.51 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $21.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.93. Ares Capital Corporation has a 52-week low of $18.26 and a 52-week high of $23.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.49 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.04). Ares Capital had a net margin of 43.50% and a return on equity of 11.05%. The business had revenue of $599.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $769.32 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.59 earnings per share. Ares Capital’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Ares Capital Corporation will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.93%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is currently 93.66%.

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.