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

Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $22.25.

A number of research analysts recently commented on ARCC shares. Capital One Financial set a $22.50 price target on Ares Capital in a report on Friday, October 10th. JMP Securities set a $23.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $22.50 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, B. Riley raised Ares Capital from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $22.50 to $23.50 in a report on Wednesday, July 30th.

Insider Activity at Ares Capital

In other Ares Capital news, CEO Michael Kort Schnabel purchased 13,000 shares of Ares Capital stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 31st. The shares were bought at an average price of $20.39 per share, for a total transaction of $265,070.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 28,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $570,920. This trade represents a 86.67% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ares Capital

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. City Holding Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 444.4% in the 3rd quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 1,225 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. SWAN Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Elequin Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, NBT Bank N A NY bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ares Capital Price Performance

NASDAQ ARCC opened at $20.21 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Ares Capital has a 12 month low of $18.26 and a 12 month high of $23.84. The stock has a market cap of $14.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.11 and a beta of 0.68. The company’s 50 day moving average is $20.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.53.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The investment management company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. Ares Capital had a net margin of 45.16% and a return on equity of 10.08%. The firm had revenue of $658.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $766.48 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.58 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ares Capital will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is 96.00%.

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.