Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Given New $23.00 Price Target at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) had its target price hoisted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $22.00 to $23.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the investment management company’s stock.

ARCC has been the subject of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James cut Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com raised shares of Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, B. Riley lifted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.94.

Ares Capital Price Performance

NASDAQ ARCC opened at $22.74 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.69 billion, a PE ratio of 8.75 and a beta of 1.01. Ares Capital has a 12-month low of $19.32 and a 12-month high of $23.84. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $22.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.53.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a net margin of 53.71% and a return on equity of 12.06%. 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 business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.44%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is currently 78.37%.

Institutional Trading of Ares Capital

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 2,104.7% in the third 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 buying an additional 3,449,395 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at about $58,159,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $309,649,000 after acquiring an additional 1,489,552 shares in the last quarter. CCLA Investment Management lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 31.6% in the 4th quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 2,211,955 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $48,419,000 after acquiring an additional 531,305 shares during the period. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 48.6% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,400,539 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $30,658,000 after purchasing an additional 458,360 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.