Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the nine research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $21.71.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Compass Point upgraded shares of Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Monday, August 5th. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of Ares Capital stock opened at $21.32 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $20.74 and its 200 day moving average is $20.84. Ares Capital has a one year low of $18.55 and a one year high of $21.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40. The stock has a market cap of $13.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.48 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The investment management company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $714.27 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.24% and a net margin of 59.76%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.58 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ares Capital will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.01%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.37%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Capital

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ARCC. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 1st quarter valued at about $86,227,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 20.2% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 11,681,109 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $243,434,000 after purchasing an additional 1,961,166 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 143.9% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 820,390 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $17,081,000 after purchasing an additional 484,088 shares during the period. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $9,815,000. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 52.7% during the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,354,097 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $28,192,000 after buying an additional 467,535 shares during the period. 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.