Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the four research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $20.80.

ARCC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, B. Riley downgraded Ares Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 8th.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of ARCC opened at $20.59 on Friday. Ares Capital has a 52-week low of $17.53 and a 52-week high of $20.86. The business’s fifty day moving average is $20.31 and its 200-day moving average is $19.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market cap of $12.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.71 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.91%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARCC. Cibc World Market Inc. increased its holdings in Ares Capital by 23.8% during the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 82,913 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,737,000 after purchasing an additional 15,957 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its holdings in Ares Capital by 59.1% during the 1st quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 30,205 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $633,000 after purchasing an additional 11,226 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 26.2% in the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 513,554 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $10,759,000 after acquiring an additional 106,704 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the first quarter valued at approximately $897,000. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 70.2% in the first quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 4,595 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $96,000 after acquiring an additional 1,895 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.