Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Receives $22.94 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $22.94.

ARCC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. B. Riley increased their price target 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James lowered Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Capital

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $309,649,000 after acquiring an additional 1,489,552 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Ares Capital by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 7,951,926 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $174,068,000 after purchasing an additional 871,370 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 26.0% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,268,547 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $93,439,000 after buying an additional 881,450 shares during the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth approximately $84,426,000. Finally, Confluence Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $80,338,000 after buying an additional 63,999 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ ARCC opened at $23.35 on Friday. Ares Capital has a one year low of $19.32 and a one year high of $23.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.21. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $22.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.65. The company has a market cap of $15.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.53 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. Research analysts anticipate that Ares Capital will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.22%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 78.37%.

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.