Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Trading Down 0.7% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) dropped 0.7% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $22.19 and last traded at $22.20. Approximately 1,036,063 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average daily volume of 3,696,744 shares. The stock had previously closed at $22.36.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ARCC. StockNews.com cut Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James lowered shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.94.

Ares Capital Trading Down 1.1 %

The company has a market cap of $15.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.02 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.98.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. On average, equities analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.68%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 78.37%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ares Capital

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at $84,426,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at $58,159,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $309,649,000 after buying an additional 1,489,552 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 81.0% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,678,525 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $58,633,000 after buying an additional 1,198,580 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 26.0% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,268,547 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $93,439,000 after buying an additional 881,450 shares during the last quarter. 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.