Short Interest in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Drops By 12.3%

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 15,620,000 shares, a drop of 12.3% from the September 15th total of 17,810,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,290,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.7 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on ARCC shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Monday, August 5th. 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 report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Compass Point upgraded shares of Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.71.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Capital

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Ares Capital in the first quarter valued at about $86,227,000. SteelPeak Wealth LLC boosted its position in Ares Capital by 151.4% in the second quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 45,698 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $952,000 after buying an additional 27,523 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in Ares Capital by 206.7% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 55,516 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,156,000 after buying an additional 37,412 shares in the last quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its position in Ares Capital by 13.4% in the second quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 651,938 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $13,586,000 after buying an additional 76,960 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brendel Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the third quarter worth approximately $2,101,000. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

NASDAQ ARCC opened at $21.38 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $13.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.32 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.85. Ares Capital has a twelve month low of $18.55 and a twelve month high of $21.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.03. The business 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 12.24%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.58 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ares Capital will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.98%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.