Analysts Set Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) PT at $21.86

Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the nine brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $21.86.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ARCC shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Monday, August 5th. JMP Securities increased their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Compass Point raised Ares Capital to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. B. Riley increased their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group raised Ares Capital to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 12,656,154 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $272,107,000 after buying an additional 975,045 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,836,573 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $80,338,000 after buying an additional 63,999 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 2,104.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,613,285 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $756,620,000 after buying an additional 3,449,395 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 3,492,247 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $72,778,000 after buying an additional 273,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 3,099,134 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $64,524,000 after buying an additional 223,245 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ares Capital Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ARCC traded up $0.39 on Wednesday, hitting $21.40. 6,736,326 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,382,914. Ares Capital has a 52 week low of $19.32 and a 52 week high of $22.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.96. The company has a market cap of $13.83 billion, a PE ratio of 8.19 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a net margin of 53.71% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The company had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.45 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. Ares Capital's revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Ares Capital will post 2.36 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, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.97%. Ares Capital's payout ratio is 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.