Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Rating Lowered to “Market Perform” at Raymond James

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Raymond James from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat reports.

ARCC has been the topic of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. B. Riley upped their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ares Capital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.94.

Ares Capital Price Performance

NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $22.74 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $22.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.53. Ares Capital has a 1-year low of $19.32 and a 1-year high of $23.84. The firm has a market cap of $14.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.75 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a net margin of 53.71% and a return on equity of 12.06%. Equities research analysts forecast that Ares Capital will post 2.36 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ares Capital

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Horizon Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth about $48,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Ares Capital by 56.8% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,510 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 909 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at about $60,000. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 92.6% in the 4th quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 2,889 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 1,389 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.