Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. B. Riley raised shares of Ares Capital from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $22.50 to $23.50 in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Thursday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, JMP Securities set a $23.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.81.

Ares Capital Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC opened at $18.90 on Friday. Ares Capital has a 12-month low of $18.26 and a 12-month high of $23.84. The company has a market capitalization of $13.33 billion, a PE ratio of 9.22 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $21.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.62.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a net margin of 44.94% and a return on equity of 10.48%. The business had revenue of $614.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $748.76 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.61 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Ares Capital will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Capital

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Ares Capital by 20.9% during the second quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC now owns 126,366 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,775,000 after purchasing an additional 21,847 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Ares Capital by 0.6% during the second quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,796,791 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $83,378,000 after purchasing an additional 21,344 shares during the period. Rollins Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ares Capital by 10.2% during the first quarter. Rollins Financial Advisors LLC now owns 138,139 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,061,000 after purchasing an additional 12,838 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its stake in Ares Capital by 3.2% during the second quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,453,944 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $53,889,000 after purchasing an additional 75,109 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Ares Capital by 0.7% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 241,119 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $5,343,000 after purchasing an additional 1,776 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

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.