Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Raymond James lowered Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.94.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.0 %

ARCC opened at $22.74 on Friday. Ares Capital has a 12 month low of $19.32 and a 12 month high of $23.84. The business has a 50-day moving average of $22.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.75 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a net margin of 53.71% and a return on equity of 12.06%. On average, research analysts expect that Ares Capital will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.44%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 78.37%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $309,649,000 after buying an additional 1,489,552 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 1.7% during the third quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,836,573 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $80,338,000 after acquiring an additional 63,999 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 2,104.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,613,285 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $756,620,000 after acquiring an additional 3,449,395 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 3.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,387,097 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $70,926,000 after acquiring an additional 104,710 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at about $58,159,000. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.