Short Interest in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Increases By 5.2%

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 17,440,000 shares, a growth of 5.2% from the October 15th total of 16,580,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,140,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.6 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Capital

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Ares Capital by 62.7% in the 2nd quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,233 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 475 shares during the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Horizon Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC increased its position in Ares Capital by 88.9% during the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 1,700 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ARCC shares. StockNews.com raised Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group raised Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. B. Riley boosted their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.86.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

NASDAQ ARCC opened at $21.68 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $21.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Ares Capital has a 1 year low of $19.32 and a 1 year high of $22.05. The company has a market capitalization of $14.01 billion, a PE ratio of 8.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $770.45 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 53.71%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.59 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Ares Capital will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.86%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 73.85%.

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.