Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Reaches New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $22.44 and last traded at $22.27, with a volume of 4963648 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $22.21.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARCC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. B. Riley raised their target price on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group raised shares of Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Ares Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $23.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.29.

Ares Capital Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The company has a 50-day moving average of $21.52 and a 200-day moving average of $21.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.57 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.85%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ARCC. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 4.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 38,559 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings 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% during the third quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 211,797 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $4,435,000 after acquiring an additional 52,007 shares during the period. Partners Group Holding AG increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 312,255 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SteelPeak Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 151.4% in 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 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.