Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Trading Up 0.4%

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)’s share price rose 0.4% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $20.70 and last traded at $20.67. Approximately 882,979 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 3,543,545 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.58.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on ARCC. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.50 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.50.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $21.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.50. The firm has a market cap of $12.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.04 and a beta of 1.00. 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 quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The investment management company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.37% and a net margin of 62.77%. The business had revenue of $701.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $703.85 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.56 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.33%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.75%.

Institutional Trading of Ares Capital

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lewis Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Lewis Asset Management LLC now owns 24,805 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $516,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Chapin Davis Inc. lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 2.2% in the first quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 22,966 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $478,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares during the last quarter. Lincoln National Corp grew its position in Ares Capital by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 17,665 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $354,000 after acquiring an additional 520 shares during the period. Baron Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Ares Capital by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Baron Financial Group LLC now owns 18,366 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $368,000 after acquiring an additional 543 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Transcend Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Ares Capital by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 108,577 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $2,175,000 after purchasing an additional 557 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

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.