Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Hits New 12-Month High at $20.94

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $20.94 and last traded at $20.83, with a volume of 545811 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $20.78.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Ares Capital Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $12.67 billion, a PE ratio of 7.78 and a beta of 1.00. 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $20.02.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The investment management company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 58.22% and a return on equity of 12.50%. Ares Capital’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.20%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.91%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Capital

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ARCC. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ares Capital during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 323.3% during the 1st quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 1,435 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096 shares during the period. Pingora Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Cape Investment Advisory Inc. grew its stake in Ares Capital by 411.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 1,952 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,570 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is 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.