Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Upgraded to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday morning.

ARCC has been the subject of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. 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 research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. B. Riley raised shares of Ares Capital from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $22.50 to $23.50 in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, 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. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.63.

Ares Capital Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of ARCC stock opened at $19.51 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $21.33 and a 200-day moving average of $21.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. Ares Capital has a 12-month low of $18.26 and a 12-month high of $23.84. The company has a market capitalization of $13.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.52 and a beta of 0.68.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 10.48% and a net margin of 44.94%.The company had revenue of $614.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $748.76 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.61 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ares Capital will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th were given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.8%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 93.66%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ARCC. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 24,361 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $540,000 after acquiring an additional 666 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 28.8% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 393,517 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $8,720,000 after acquiring an additional 87,934 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 1st quarter valued at about $251,000. PFG Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 30,452 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $675,000 after acquiring an additional 1,937 shares during the period. Finally, Stonegate Investment Group LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 23.7% in the 1st quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 13,796 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $306,000 after acquiring an additional 2,644 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Company 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.