Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $22.29.

Several research analysts have commented on ARCC shares. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Ares Capital from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com raised Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, B. Riley raised their target price on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ARCC. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Ares Capital by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 209,086 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $4,357,000 after purchasing an additional 15,865 shares in the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the second quarter worth approximately $42,000. TrueMark Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the second quarter worth approximately $570,000. Key Financial Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the second quarter valued at approximately $114,000. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $5,211,000. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of ARCC opened at $21.75 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.05 billion, a PE ratio of 8.37 and a beta of 1.01. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $21.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Ares Capital has a 12-month low of $19.32 and a 12-month high of $22.43.

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

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

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 given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.83%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.85%.

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.