Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Receives $22.94 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eleven brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $22.81.

ARCC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James cut Ares Capital from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered Ares Capital from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd.

Ares Capital Price Performance

ARCC stock traded down $0.40 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $18.91. The company had a trading volume of 11,038,100 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,917,728. Ares Capital has a 1-year low of $18.60 and a 1-year high of $23.84. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $22.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The company has a market capitalization of $12.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.72 and a beta of 0.77.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last released its 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Ares Capital will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.15%. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio is presently 78.37%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Capital

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARCC. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth $84,426,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at about $58,159,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $309,649,000 after buying an additional 1,489,552 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 81.0% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,678,525 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $58,633,000 after acquiring an additional 1,198,580 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 26.0% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,268,547 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $93,439,000 after acquiring an additional 881,450 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.