Ares Capital (ARCC) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: ARCC) is a publicly traded business development company (BDC) that specializes in providing debt and equity financing solutions to U.S. middle-market companies. As a BDC, Ares Capital offers investors access to a diversified portfolio of tailored credit investments, including senior secured loans, unitranche financing, mezzanine debt and equity co-investments. The firm’s flexible capital structures are designed to support companies seeking growth capital, refinancing or strategic acquisitions.

Through its credit platform, Ares Capital focuses on originations, underwriting and portfolio management across a range of industries, with a particular emphasis on sectors such as healthcare, technology, industrials and business services. The company’s lending strategies cater to sponsor-backed transactions as well as corporate borrowers, while its opportunistic investing group pursues special situations and secondary market transactions that may offer attractive risk-adjusted returns.

Founded in 2004 and headquartered in the United States, Ares Capital conducts the majority of its investment activities across North America. Since its initial public offering in late 2004, the company has grown alongside its external manager, Ares Management Corporation, to become one of the largest BDCs by asset size, benefiting from a scalable investment platform and disciplined credit underwriting process.

Ares Capital is externally managed by Ares Management, a global alternative asset manager with a dedicated credit business led by experienced investment professionals. The BDC’s governance structure is overseen by an independent board of directors, and its day-to-day investment decisions are executed by the Ares Credit Group, which comprises teams specializing in direct lending, mezzanine financing and opportunistic credit strategies.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $18.54 to $18.89
• 50-Day Range: $17.45 to $19.35
• 52-Week Range: $17.40 to $23.42
• Volume: 4.50 million shs
• Average Volume: 5.58 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $13.35 billion
• P/E Ratio: 11.40
• Dividend Yield: 10.33%
• Price Target: $20.75
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

Ares Capital Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Ares Capital scored higher than 72% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 340th out of 881 stocks in the finance sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 3.3 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

Ares Capital has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.82, and is based on no strong buy ratings, 9 buy ratings, 2 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Upside Potential

Ares Capital has a consensus price target of $20.75, representing about 11.6% upside from its current price of $18.59.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Ares Capital has been the subject of 8 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 1.05%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Ares Capital are expected to grow by 1.05% in the coming year, from $1.91 to $1.93 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Ares Capital is 11.40, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 44.78.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Ares Capital is 11.40, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Finance sector average P/E ratio of about 23.96.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Ares Capital has a P/B Ratio of 0.95. P/B Ratios below 1 indicate that a company could be undervalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 2.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Bearish

Percentage of Shares Shorted

5.96% of the float of Ares Capital has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Ares Capital has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 6.79.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Ares Capital has recently decreased by 0.31%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving.

Dividend

• Score: 1.7 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Weak

Dividend Leadership

Ares Capital is a leading dividend payer. It pays a dividend yield of 10.33%, putting its dividend yield in the top 25% of dividend-paying stocks.

Dividend Growth

Ares Capital does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Ares Capital is 117.79%. Payout ratios above 75% are not desirable because they may not be sustainable.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on EPS estimates, Ares Capital will have a dividend payout ratio of 99.48% in the coming year. This indicates that Ares Capital may not be able to sustain their current dividend.

News and Social Media

• Score: 2.3 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.68

News Sentiment

Ares Capital has a news sentiment score of 0.68. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This news sentiment score is similar to the average news sentiment of Finance companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 11 news articles for Ares Capital this week, compared to 11 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

Only 100 people have searched for ARCC on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -19% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

57 people have added Ares Capital to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 338% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 0.3 / 5
• Insider Trading: N/A

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Ares Capital insiders have not sold or bought any company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

0.49% of the stock of Ares Capital is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

27.38% of the stock of Ares Capital is held by institutions.

Company Calendar

• Record date for 3/31 Dividend: 3/13/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 3/31 Dividend: 3/13/2026
• Dividend Payable: 3/31/2026
• Last Earnings: 4/28/2026
• Today: 5/24/2026
• Record date for 6/30 Dividend: 6/15/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 6/30 Dividend: 6/15/2026
• Dividend Payable: 6/30/2026
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 7/28/2026
• AGM 2026: 8/13/2026
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2026

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NASDAQ
• Sector: Finance
• Industry: FIN - SBIC&COMMRL
• Sub-Industry: Asset Management & Custody Banks
• Current Symbol: NASDAQ:ARCC
• CIK: 1287750
• Web: www.arescapitalcorp.com
• Phone: (212) 750-7300
• Fax: 212-750-1777
• Employees: 2,550
• Year Founded: 2004

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Ares Capital: $20.75
• High Price Target: $22.50
• Low Price Target: $19.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +11.6%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.82
• Research Coverage: 11 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $1.63
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 11.40
• Forward P/E Ratio: 9.73
• P/E Growth: N/A
• Net Income: $1.30 billion
• Net Margins: 37.30%
• Pretax Margin: 48.33%
• Return on Equity: 9.85%
• Return on Assets: 4.59%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 1.13
• Current Ratio: 1.40
• Quick Ratio: 1.40

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $3.05 billion
• Price / Sales: 4.37
• Cash Flow: $2.01 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 9.26
• Book Value: $19.59 per share
• Price / Book: 0.95

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 718,020,000
• Free Float: 714,505,000
• Market Cap: $13.35 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.58