Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Price Target Raised to $23.00 at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) had its price target hoisted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $22.00 to $23.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has an outperform rating on the investment management company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. B. Riley raised shares of Ares Capital from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $22.50 to $23.50 in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.86.

Ares Capital Price Performance

NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $22.39 on Wednesday. Ares Capital has a 52 week low of $18.26 and a 52 week high of $23.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.14. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.05. The firm has a market cap of $15.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.92 and a beta of 0.70.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 10.48% and a net margin of 44.94%. The business had revenue of $614.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $748.76 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.61 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ares Capital will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 93.66%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Capital

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Elequin Capital LP bought a new position in Ares Capital in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Montag & Caldwell LLC purchased a new position in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 320.7% in the first quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,628 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,241 shares during the last quarter. CNB Bank bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Harbor Asset Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $38,000. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by 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.