Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Upgraded at B. Riley

B. Riley upgraded shares of Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) to a hold rating in a research note published on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports. B. Riley also issued estimates for Ares Capital’s Q1 2026 earnings at $0.50 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $0.49 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $0.49 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $0.49 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $1.97 EPS.

ARCC has been the topic of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group cut their price objective 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.00.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC opened at $21.51 on Monday. Ares Capital has a 1 year low of $18.26 and a 1 year high of $23.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The company’s 50-day moving average is $21.27 and its 200 day moving average is $21.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.49 and a beta of 0.68.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.04). Ares Capital had a net margin of 43.50% and a return on equity of 11.05%. The company had revenue of $599.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $769.32 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. Ares Capital’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ares Capital will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.93%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 93.66%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Elequin Capital LP bought a new position in Ares Capital during the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Montag & Caldwell LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its position in Ares Capital by 320.7% during 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 during the period. Finally, Investment Management Corp VA ADV lifted its position in Ares Capital by 193.9% during the first quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV now owns 1,828 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,206 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

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.