Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) saw a large growth in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 16,930,000 shares, a growth of 5.2% from the March 31st total of 16,090,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,610,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.7 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ARCC. Nemes Rush Group LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 1,096 shares during the period. Pingora Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 93.9% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,922 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 931 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cape Investment Advisory Inc. grew its stake in Ares Capital by 411.0% during the third quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 1,952 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,570 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of ARCC stock opened at $20.61 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $12.51 billion, a PE ratio of 7.72 and a beta of 1.00. Ares Capital has a 12 month low of $17.53 and a 12 month high of $20.94. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $20.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The investment management company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.03. Ares Capital had a net margin of 58.22% and a return on equity of 12.50%. The firm had revenue of $707.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $669.78 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.68 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Ares Capital will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.32%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.91%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARCC has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. B. Riley cut Ares Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.80.

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.