Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Trading 1.3% Higher - Here's What Happened

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) shares traded up 1.3% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $20.67 and last traded at $20.61. 957,363 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 4,110,452 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.34.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on ARCC shares. UBS Group decreased their target price on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ares Capital from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. 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 research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Raymond James cut shares of Ares Capital from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $22.14.

Ares Capital Stock Up 2.3 %

The business's fifty day simple moving average is $21.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market cap of $14.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.49 and a beta of 0.70.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 the consensus estimate of $769.32 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Ares Capital's payout ratio is 93.66%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ares Capital

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ARCC. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital during the 3rd quarter worth $252,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 382.8% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 61,609 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $1,290,000 after purchasing an additional 48,848 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 63,385 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $1,327,000 after purchasing an additional 3,726 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 127,219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,387,097 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $70,926,000 after buying an additional 104,710 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.