Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Sets New 1-Year High at $21.04

Shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $21.04 and last traded at $20.83, with a volume of 569736 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $20.89.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARCC has been the topic of several research reports. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note 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, March 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.50 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.43.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The company has a 50 day moving average of $20.46 and a 200 day moving average of $20.11. The firm has a market cap of $12.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.16 and a beta of 0.99.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The investment management company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.60 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $701.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $703.85 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 62.77% and a return on equity of 12.37%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.18%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.75%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Capital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ARCC. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 17.4% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 9,719,943 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $202,369,000 after acquiring an additional 1,437,864 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Ares Capital by 1,865.8% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,214,991 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $844,260,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000,570 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital during the 1st quarter valued at $86,227,000. Advisors Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 7.8% in the first quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 3,099,134 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $64,524,000 after buying an additional 223,245 shares during the period. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 5.4% during the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,060,063 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $42,891,000 after buying an additional 105,277 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.