Brokerages Set Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) PT at $22.00

Shares of Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $22.21.

A number of research firms have recently commented on ARCC. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, B. Riley upgraded shares of Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th.

Ares Capital Price Performance

ARCC stock opened at $23.06 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $21.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.99. The stock has a market cap of $16.01 billion, a PE ratio of 11.25 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Ares Capital has a 1 year low of $18.26 and a 1 year high of $23.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $599.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $769.32 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.05% and a net margin of 43.50%. Ares Capital’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Ares Capital will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.33%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 93.66%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ares Capital

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Ares Capital by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 241,119 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $5,343,000 after purchasing an additional 1,776 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp acquired a new stake in Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at about $222,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Ares Capital by 18.2% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 47,840 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,058,000 after acquiring an additional 7,381 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in Ares Capital by 23,571.4% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,314 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 3,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Ares Capital by 2,116.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 13,274 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,940,000 after acquiring an additional 12,675 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Ares Capital

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.