Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the four analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $20.80.

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, B. Riley downgraded shares of Ares Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 8th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ares Capital

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Nemes Rush Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in Ares Capital by 100.8% during the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,426 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 181,426 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in Ares Capital by 323.3% during the first quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 1,435 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pingora Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Ares Capital stock opened at $20.59 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. Ares Capital has a 12-month low of $17.53 and a 12-month high of $20.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.71 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.95.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The investment management company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $707.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $669.78 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 58.22% and a return on equity of 12.50%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. Analysts predict that Ares Capital will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.32%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.91%.

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.