Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Up 1% - Should You Buy?

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report)'s stock price was up 1% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $21.83 and last traded at $21.80. Approximately 1,709,869 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 67% from the average daily volume of 5,111,675 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.59.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on ARCC shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Capital from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $22.00.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.2%

The company has a market capitalization of $14.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.84 and a beta of 0.70. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $21.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.04). Ares Capital had a net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. The company had revenue of $599.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $769.32 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.86%. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 93.66%.

Institutional Trading of Ares Capital

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Elequin Capital LP bought a new stake in Ares Capital in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Montag & Caldwell LLC bought a new stake in Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 320.7% in the 1st quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,628 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,241 shares during the period. Finally, Investment Management Corp VA ADV boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 193.9% in the 1st quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV now owns 1,828 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,206 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.