Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Stock Price Down 0.1% After Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) were down 0.1% during mid-day trading on Friday after Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on the stock from $23.00 to $22.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Ares Capital traded as low as $20.98 and last traded at $21.08. Approximately 620,482 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 4,069,181 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.10.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on ARCC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James lowered Ares Capital from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $22.22.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at $519,000. Round Rock Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,512,000. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 507,374 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $11,208,000 after buying an additional 25,347 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Ares Capital by 24.3% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 650,163 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $13,900,000 after buying an additional 127,219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in Ares Capital by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 43,056 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $942,000 after acquiring an additional 1,945 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Ares Capital Stock Down 2.7 %

The stock has a market cap of $14.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.44 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.21. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $21.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.94.

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

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.29%. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio is currently 78.37%.

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.