Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Short Interest Update

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 16,090,000 shares, a decrease of 11.5% from the March 15th total of 18,190,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,690,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.4 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Capital

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nemes Rush Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 100.8% in the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,426 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 181,426 shares during the period. Pingora Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $21.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, B. Riley lowered shares of Ares Capital from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $21.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $20.80.

Ares Capital Trading Down 1.2 %

NASDAQ ARCC traded down $0.24 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $20.28. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,826,405 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,312,764. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $20.28 and a 200 day moving average of $19.92. Ares Capital has a twelve month low of $17.53 and a twelve month high of $20.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.60 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The investment management company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.03. Ares Capital had a net margin of 58.22% and a return on equity of 12.50%. The business had revenue of $707.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $669.78 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.68 earnings per share. Ares Capital's revenue was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Ares Capital will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.47%. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio is currently 71.91%.

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.