Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $22.25.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Wall Street Zen raised Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, October 19th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Ares Capital from $22.50 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped 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 report on Wednesday, October 1st.

Insider Activity at Ares Capital

In other news, CEO Michael Kort Schnabel bought 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The shares were bought at an average price of $20.39 per share, for a total transaction of $265,070.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 28,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $570,920. This trade represents a 86.67% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 87.2% in the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 2,621,109 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $58,084,000 after acquiring an additional 1,220,570 shares in the last quarter. Rathbones Group PLC boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 31.1% in the 1st quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 228,292 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $5,059,000 after purchasing an additional 54,182 shares during the period. Boston Partners grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 11.7% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 488,486 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $10,820,000 after purchasing an additional 51,271 shares in the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 0.6% during the first quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 803,919 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $17,815,000 after purchasing an additional 4,407 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 14.8% during the first quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 438,266 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $9,712,000 after purchasing an additional 56,633 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of ARCC opened at $20.31 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.39. Ares Capital has a 1-year low of $18.26 and a 1-year high of $23.84. The company has a market cap of $14.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.16 and a beta of 0.59.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The investment management company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $766.48 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 45.16% and a return on equity of 10.08%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.58 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Ares Capital will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.5%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 96.00%.

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.