Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Price Target Cut to $22.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) had its price target reduced by Wells Fargo & Company from $23.00 to $22.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the investment management company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on ARCC. UBS Group cut 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. StockNews.com lowered Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Raymond James cut Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.22.

Ares Capital Price Performance

ARCC opened at $21.25 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $21.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. Ares Capital has a 1 year low of $18.26 and a 1 year high of $23.84. The stock has a market cap of $14.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.67 and a beta of 0.77.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. Analysts forecast that Ares Capital will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.04%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is currently 78.37%.

Institutional Trading of Ares Capital

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Montag & Caldwell LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Continuum Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 320.7% in the first quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,628 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,241 shares in the last quarter. PSI Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ares Capital by 121.1% in the first quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 2,100 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares during the period. Finally, Promus Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth $48,000. 27.38% of the stock is currently 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.