Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Reaches New 1-Year High at $20.86

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $20.86 and last traded at $20.82, with a volume of 7385573 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.48.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, B. Riley lowered Ares Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.80.

Ares Capital Trading Up 1.7 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.83. The company has a market capitalization of $12.63 billion, a PE ratio of 7.79 and a beta of 0.99.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The investment management company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $707.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $669.78 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.50% and a net margin of 58.22%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.68 EPS. Analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th 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 9.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.91%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Capital

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,282,079 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $165,890,000 after acquiring an additional 840,823 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in Ares Capital by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,771,933 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $95,606,000 after purchasing an additional 360,862 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Ares Capital by 1,865.8% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,214,991 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $844,260,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000,570 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,880,360 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $70,818,000 after acquiring an additional 271,811 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,116,400 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $56,952,000 after acquiring an additional 14,600 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.