Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Receives $21.86 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $22.29.

Several research firms have issued reports on ARCC. StockNews.com upgraded Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Ares Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $23.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday. B. Riley lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ARCC. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 885,406 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $18,540,000 after buying an additional 38,559 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Ares Capital by 1.7% in the third quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,836,573 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $80,338,000 after acquiring an additional 63,999 shares during the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Ares Capital by 32.5% in the third quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 211,797 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $4,435,000 after acquiring an additional 52,007 shares in the last quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 151.4% during the 2nd quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 45,698 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $952,000 after purchasing an additional 27,523 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Partners Group Holding AG raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter. Partners Group Holding AG now owns 1,787,401 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $37,428,000 after purchasing an additional 312,255 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $22.17 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.53 and a beta of 1.01. Ares Capital has a 1-year low of $19.32 and a 1-year high of $22.30. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $21.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29.

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

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.66%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is 73.85%.

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.