McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC Takes Position in Ares Capital Corporation $ARCC

McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 20,054 shares of the investment management company’s stock, valued at approximately $410,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ARCC. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Ares Capital by 2,116.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 13,274 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,940,000 after purchasing an additional 12,675 shares during the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the first quarter valued at approximately $222,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 21.0% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 59,698 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,331,000 after buying an additional 10,353 shares during the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 799.9% during the 1st quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 120,243 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,665,000 after purchasing an additional 106,881 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 24,361 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $540,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ARCC shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. JMP Securities set a $23.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.86.

Ares Capital Stock Down 2.9%

Shares of ARCC opened at $19.10 on Friday. Ares Capital Corporation has a one year low of $18.26 and a one year high of $23.84. The company has a market cap of $13.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.32 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.65.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 10.48% and a net margin of 44.94%.The business had revenue of $614.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $748.76 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.61 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Ares Capital Corporation will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.1%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is presently 93.66%.

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.