Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wells Fargo & Company

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

ARCC has been the topic of several other research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. UBS Group upgraded Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, B. Riley lifted their price objective 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ares Capital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.29.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $21.69 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.01 billion, a PE ratio of 8.34 and a beta of 1.01. Ares Capital has a fifty-two week low of $19.32 and a fifty-two week high of $22.43. 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 simple moving average of $21.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.13.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its 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). The firm had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.45 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 53.71%. Ares Capital’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.59 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Ares Capital will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 8.3% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 12,656,154 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $272,107,000 after purchasing an additional 975,045 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Ares Capital by 1.7% during 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 in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position 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 buying an additional 3,449,395 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in Ares Capital by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 3,492,247 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $72,778,000 after acquiring an additional 273,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,217,277 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $46,430,000 after acquiring an additional 79,074 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.