Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Receives $22.29 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the nine analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $22.29.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ares Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, B. Riley lifted their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st.

Institutional Trading of Ares Capital

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,387,097 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $70,926,000 after buying an additional 104,710 shares during the last quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 29.8% in the third quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 20,615 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $432,000 after acquiring an additional 4,730 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 24.3% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 650,163 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $13,900,000 after purchasing an additional 127,219 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 6.2% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 63,385 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,327,000 after purchasing an additional 3,726 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 382.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 61,609 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,290,000 after purchasing an additional 48,848 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $21.94 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $21.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.13. The company has a market cap of $14.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.44 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. Ares Capital has a one year low of $19.32 and a one year high of $22.43.

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

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.85%.

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.