Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Short Interest Update

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 16,660,000 shares, a drop of 8.1% from the May 31st total of 18,120,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,340,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.0 days.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ:ARCC traded up $0.17 on Tuesday, hitting $20.88. The stock had a trading volume of 2,118,901 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,552,518. The business’s fifty day moving average is $21.03 and its 200 day moving average is $20.53. The company has a market cap of $12.83 billion, a PE ratio of 7.15 and a beta of 1.01. 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 has a 52 week low of $18.55 and a 52 week high of $21.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its 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 net margin of 62.77% and a return on equity of 12.37%. The company had revenue of $701.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $703.85 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ares Capital will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.20%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.75%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of ARCC. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 31.4% in the third quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 19,438 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $378,000 after purchasing an additional 4,641 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 68.7% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 449,212 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $8,746,000 after purchasing an additional 182,949 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 3.6% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 367,212 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $7,150,000 after purchasing an additional 12,597 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 0.6% in the third quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 504,173 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $9,816,000 after purchasing an additional 2,840 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elevatus Welath Management purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the third quarter valued at approximately $266,000. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ARCC shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Ares Capital from $21.50 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Truist Financial raised their target price on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.50.

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.