Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) holds a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" among analysts, with nine firms covering the stock, including seven buy ratings and two holds.
• The average 12-month price target is $22.8571, with JMP Securities and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods each setting a target of $23.00.
• Ares Capital recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.48 per share, translating to an annualized dividend yield of 8.6%, with the payout representing a ratio of 93.66%.

Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $22.8571.

Several brokerages recently commented on ARCC. JMP Securities set a $23.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Citigroup reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group boosted their price target on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, B. Riley raised Ares Capital from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $22.50 to $23.50 in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th.

Ares Capital Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of ARCC opened at $22.39 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Ares Capital has a one year low of $18.26 and a one year high of $23.84. The company has a market cap of $15.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.92 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.04.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $614.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $748.76 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 10.48% and a net margin of 44.94%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.61 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Ares Capital will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.6%. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 93.66%.

Institutional Trading of Ares Capital

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Verus Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Ares Capital by 59.8% in the 2nd quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC now owns 31,951 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $702,000 after purchasing an additional 11,956 shares during the period. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC grew its position in Ares Capital by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC now owns 71,408 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $1,568,000 after purchasing an additional 2,362 shares in the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the second quarter valued at approximately $309,000. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 810.0% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 64,674 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $1,420,000 after acquiring an additional 57,567 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fountainhead AM LLC raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Fountainhead AM LLC now owns 9,728 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $214,000 after purchasing an additional 511 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company's stock.

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.

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