Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Receives $21.86 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the nine research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $21.86.

Several brokerages have commented on ARCC. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. B. Riley increased 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. Compass Point upgraded shares of Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ares Capital

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 8.3% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 12,656,154 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $272,107,000 after purchasing an additional 975,045 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,836,573 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $80,338,000 after buying an additional 63,999 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 2,104.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 3,449,395 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 8.5% during the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 3,492,247 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $72,778,000 after buying an additional 273,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 7.8% in the first quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 3,099,134 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $64,524,000 after buying an additional 223,245 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Ares Capital stock opened at $21.53 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market cap of $13.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.28 and a beta of 1.01. Ares Capital has a 1-year low of $19.32 and a 1-year high of $22.05. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $21.02 and a 200-day moving average of $20.97.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $770.45 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. Ares Capital’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Ares Capital will post 2.36 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.92%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.