Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Short Interest Up 11.0% in November

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 17,310,000 shares, a growth of 11.0% from the November 15th total of 15,590,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,490,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.0 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Capital

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 4.6% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 885,406 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $18,540,000 after buying an additional 38,559 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 1.7% during the third quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,836,573 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $80,338,000 after buying an additional 63,999 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 25.1% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 222,101 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $4,651,000 after buying an additional 44,548 shares during the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 32.5% during the third quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 211,797 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $4,435,000 after purchasing an additional 52,007 shares during the period. Finally, Partners Group Holding AG raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 21.2% during the third quarter. Partners Group Holding AG now owns 1,787,401 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $37,428,000 after purchasing an additional 312,255 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.4 %

Ares Capital stock traded up $0.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $21.69. The stock had a trading volume of 4,551,934 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,459,505. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.01 billion, a PE ratio of 8.34 and a beta of 1.01. Ares Capital has a 12 month low of $19.32 and a 12 month high of $22.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

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

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 8.85%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.85%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on ARCC. B. Riley increased their target price on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com upgraded Ares Capital from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Ares Capital from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Ares Capital to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $22.29.

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.