Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Receives $22.29 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the nine brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $22.29.

Several analysts recently commented on ARCC shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised Ares Capital from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ares Capital from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, B. Riley increased their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st.

Institutional Trading of Ares Capital

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Asset Dedication LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Horizon Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital in the third quarter worth about $28,000. nVerses Capital LLC raised its holdings in Ares Capital by 88.9% during the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 1,700 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new position in Ares Capital during the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 56.8% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,510 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 909 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ARCC traded up $0.19 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $21.94. 4,484,364 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,540,089. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $21.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.13. Ares Capital has a 12 month low of $19.32 and a 12 month high of $22.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.17 billion, a PE ratio of 8.44 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 53.71%. The business had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.45 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.59 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Ares Capital will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio is currently 73.85%.

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.