B. Riley Comments on Ares Capital Co.’s FY2024 Earnings (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) – Research analysts at B. Riley raised their FY2024 EPS estimates for shares of Ares Capital in a research report issued on Thursday, May 2nd. B. Riley analyst B. Rowe now expects that the investment management company will post earnings per share of $2.30 for the year, up from their prior forecast of $2.29. B. Riley has a “Neutral” rating and a $21.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Ares Capital’s current full-year earnings is $2.35 per share.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on ARCC. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.50 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.43.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

NASDAQ ARCC opened at $20.61 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.06 and a beta of 0.99. The business’s 50 day moving average is $20.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.06. Ares Capital has a 12-month low of $17.53 and a 12-month high of $21.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The investment management company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $701.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $703.85 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.37% and a net margin of 62.77%. The company’s revenue was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.56 earnings per share.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 13th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.75%.

Institutional Trading of Ares Capital

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of ARCC. Nemes Rush Group LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 323.3% in the first quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 1,435 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 1,096 shares in the last quarter. Pingora Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 411.0% during the third quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 1,952 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,570 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in Ares Capital by 93.9% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,922 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 931 shares in the last quarter. 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.