Short Interest in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Drops By 11.5%

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 16,090,000 shares, a decline of 11.5% from the March 15th total of 18,190,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,690,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.4 days.

Ares Capital Trading Down 0.2 %

ARCC stock traded down $0.04 during trading on Monday, reaching $20.24. 2,728,024 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,692,094. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $20.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.93. Ares Capital has a 52-week low of $17.53 and a 52-week high of $20.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.28 billion, a PE ratio of 7.58 and a beta of 1.00.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The investment management company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $707.00 million for 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.68 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ares Capital will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ARCC. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. B. Riley downgraded Ares Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.80.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lincoln National Corp lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 17,665 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $354,000 after purchasing an additional 520 shares in the last quarter. Baron Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Baron Financial Group LLC now owns 18,366 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $368,000 after acquiring an additional 543 shares in the last quarter. Syntal Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 3.3% in the third quarter. Syntal Capital Partners LLC now owns 17,346 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $338,000 after acquiring an additional 551 shares in the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 108,577 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $2,175,000 after acquiring an additional 557 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 1.7% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 35,595 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $693,000 after acquiring an additional 587 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.