Analysts Set Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) PT at $22.29

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $22.29.

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

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.2 %

ARCC opened at $23.43 on Monday. 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 has a one year low of $19.32 and a one year high of $23.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.01 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $22.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.37.

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

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.19%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 73.85%.

Institutional Trading of Ares Capital

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 2,104.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,613,285 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $756,620,000 after buying an additional 3,449,395 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Ares Capital by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 12,656,154 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $272,107,000 after acquiring an additional 975,045 shares during the last quarter. CCLA Investment Management increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 31.6% in the fourth quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 2,211,955 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $48,419,000 after acquiring an additional 531,305 shares during the period. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the second quarter valued at about $9,815,000. Finally, Columbus Macro LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth about $8,870,000. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

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.