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

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $22.94.

A number of brokerages have commented on ARCC. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. B. Riley increased their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com lowered Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th.

Institutional Trading of Ares Capital

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Horizon Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Montag & Caldwell LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Promus Capital LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth about $48,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ ARCC opened at $23.08 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $15.50 billion, a PE ratio of 9.42 and a beta of 1.01. Ares Capital has a one year low of $19.32 and a one year high of $23.84. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ares Capital will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is presently 78.37%.

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.