Royal Bank of Canada Reaffirms “Outperform” Rating for Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) in a report issued on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $22.00 price objective on the investment management company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Compass Point upgraded Ares Capital to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. JMP Securities increased their target price on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a market outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Ares Capital from $21.50 to $22.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $21.71.

Ares Capital Trading Down 0.2 %

Ares Capital stock opened at $20.30 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market cap of $12.47 billion, a PE ratio of 6.95 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $20.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.66. Ares Capital has a 52 week low of $18.55 and a 52 week high of $21.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The investment management company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $714.27 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.24% and a net margin of 59.76%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.58 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Ares Capital will post 2.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.46%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 12th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.75%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at $363,000. Sowell Financial Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC now owns 34,374 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $689,000 after purchasing an additional 2,776 shares during the period. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at $303,000. Perennial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ares Capital by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Perennial Advisors LLC now owns 181,595 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,637,000 after acquiring an additional 3,724 shares during the period. Finally, RFG Advisory LLC boosted its position in Ares Capital by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 23,675 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $474,000 after acquiring an additional 1,404 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is 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.