Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Receives $20.80 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the four ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $20.80.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. B. Riley cut Ares Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 8th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th.

Ares Capital Price Performance

NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $20.78 on Friday. Ares Capital has a 52 week low of $17.53 and a 52 week high of $20.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The company has a market capitalization of $12.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.78 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $20.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The investment management company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.03. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.50% and a net margin of 58.22%. The company had revenue of $707.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $669.78 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Ares Capital will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.24%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 71.91%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ARCC. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in Ares Capital by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 66,849 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,276,000 after purchasing an additional 3,090 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 214,421 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $4,166,000 after acquiring an additional 9,803 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 470.8% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 90,541 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,763,000 after acquiring an additional 74,678 shares in the last quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 11.1% during the 3rd quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC now owns 17,981 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $350,000 after acquiring an additional 1,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 13,978 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $262,000 after acquiring an additional 744 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.