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

Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $21.71.

A number of research firms have weighed in on ARCC. Compass Point raised shares of Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.50 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their price objective 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Capital

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ARCC. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the first quarter valued at about $86,227,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 1,865.8% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,214,991 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $844,260,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000,570 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 20.2% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 11,681,109 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $243,434,000 after purchasing an additional 1,961,166 shares during the period. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 4,876.0% during the first quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 574,978 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $11,971,000 after purchasing an additional 563,423 shares during the period. Finally, Edge Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 2,057.7% during the fourth quarter. Edge Capital Group LLC now owns 526,258 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $10,541,000 after purchasing an additional 501,868 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Stock Down 2.6 %

Shares of ARCC opened at $20.29 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.66. The company has a market cap of $12.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.95 and a beta of 1.01. Ares Capital has a one year low of $18.55 and a one year high of $21.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The investment management company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $714.27 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 59.76% and a return on equity of 12.53%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.58 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Ares Capital will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 12th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.46%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.75%.

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.