Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Receives $22.29 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the nine analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $22.29.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on ARCC shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ares Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, B. Riley raised their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Capital

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Ares Capital by 2,104.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,613,285 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $756,620,000 after purchasing an additional 3,449,395 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 20.2% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the 2nd quarter worth $9,815,000. Partners Group Holding AG grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 21.2% during the third quarter. Partners Group Holding AG now owns 1,787,401 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $37,428,000 after purchasing an additional 312,255 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in Ares Capital by 8.5% in the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 3,492,247 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $72,778,000 after buying an additional 273,025 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Capital Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Ares Capital stock opened at $21.89 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.15. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $19.32 and a fifty-two week high of $22.43. The company has a market cap of $14.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.42 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.77%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 73.85%.

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.