Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shares Up 1.3% – Here’s Why

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)’s stock price shot up 1.3% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $20.20 and last traded at $20.17. 1,693,459 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 58% from the average session volume of 4,001,384 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.91.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James lowered shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.81.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.7 %

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.96. The firm has a market cap of $13.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.23 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

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

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.37%.

Institutional Trading of Ares Capital

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ARCC. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 11,291 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $236,000 after buying an additional 1,083 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its position in Ares Capital by 10.9% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 73,741 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $1,544,000 after purchasing an additional 7,236 shares during the last quarter. Sculati Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Ares Capital by 1.0% in the third quarter. Sculati Wealth Management LLC now owns 115,744 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,410,000 after acquiring an additional 1,149 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ares Capital by 9.6% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 178,153 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,923,000 after buying an additional 15,650 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the third quarter valued at approximately $252,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

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.