Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Cuts Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Price Target to $21.00

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) had its price objective lowered by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $22.00 to $21.00 in a research report report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the investment management company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.25.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of ARCC stock opened at $19.09 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.70. The firm has a market cap of $13.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.26 and a beta of 0.58. Ares Capital has a one year low of $17.40 and a one year high of $23.42.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The investment management company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.50. The firm had revenue of $793.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $795.20 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 9.89% and a net margin of 42.56%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.55 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Ares Capital will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.1%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is 103.23%.

Insider Transactions at Ares Capital

In related news, CEO Michael Kort Schnabel bought 12,500 shares of Ares Capital stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $19.13 per share, for a total transaction of $239,125.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 40,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $774,765. This trade represents a 44.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Scott C. Lem purchased 5,186 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $19.29 per share, for a total transaction of $100,037.94. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer directly owned 39,463 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $761,241.27. The trade was a 15.13% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. City Holding Co. boosted its position in Ares Capital by 444.4% in the 3rd quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 1,225 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Palladiem LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. SWAN Capital LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Sankala Group LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, NBT Bank N A NY acquired a new stake in Ares Capital in the third quarter worth about $31,000. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Company Profile

Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: ARCC) is a publicly traded business development company (BDC) that specializes in providing debt and equity financing solutions to U.S. middle-market companies. As a BDC, Ares Capital offers investors access to a diversified portfolio of tailored credit investments, including senior secured loans, unitranche financing, mezzanine debt and equity co-investments. The firm’s flexible capital structures are designed to support companies seeking growth capital, refinancing or strategic acquisitions.

Through its credit platform, Ares Capital focuses on originations, underwriting and portfolio management across a range of industries, with a particular emphasis on sectors such as healthcare, technology, industrials and business services.