Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report published on Sunday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on ARCC. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Capital One Financial set a $22.50 target price on Ares Capital in a report on Friday, October 10th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Ares Capital from $22.50 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.63.

Ares Capital Price Performance

NASDAQ ARCC opened at $19.91 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $21.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.71 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. Ares Capital has a 1-year low of $18.26 and a 1-year high of $23.84.

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

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.6%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 93.66%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Elequin Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 320.7% in the 1st quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,628 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,241 shares during the last quarter. CNB Bank bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, WFA of San Diego LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. 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.