Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Raised to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) was upgraded from a "sell" to a "hold" rating by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen, indicating a shift in sentiment regarding the company's stock.
• UBS Group raised its price target for Ares Capital from $22.00 to $22.50, while B. Riley upgraded the stock from "neutral" to "buy" with a new price target of $23.50.
• Currently, Ares Capital enjoys a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" among analysts, with a price target of $22.86, reflecting positive outlook from the majority of analysts covering the stock.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. B. Riley raised shares of Ares Capital from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $22.50 to $23.50 in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $22.86.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of ARCC opened at $22.41 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.93 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $22.36 and a 200 day moving average of $22.00. Ares Capital has a twelve month low of $18.26 and a twelve month high of $23.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $614.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $748.76 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 44.94% and a return on equity of 10.48%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.61 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ares Capital will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Ares Capital

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Elequin Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. CNB Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Continuum Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 320.7% during the 1st quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,628 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 1,241 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WFA of San Diego LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Hedge funds and other 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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