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

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the seven ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $21.50.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ARCC. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Ares Capital from $21.50 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd.

Institutional Trading of Ares Capital

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Ares Capital by 17.4% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 9,719,943 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $202,369,000 after acquiring an additional 1,437,864 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Ares Capital by 1,865.8% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,214,991 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $844,260,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000,570 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Ares Capital in the first quarter valued at about $86,227,000. Advisors Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in 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 valued at $64,524,000 after purchasing an additional 223,245 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 5.4% in the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,060,063 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $42,891,000 after acquiring an additional 105,277 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ares Capital Price Performance

NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $20.96 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $21.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.53. The firm has a market cap of $12.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.18 and a beta of 1.01. Ares Capital has a 52-week low of $18.55 and a 52-week high of $21.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The investment management company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $701.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $703.85 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.37% and a net margin of 62.77%. Ares Capital’s revenue was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ares Capital will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.75%.

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.