Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Lifted to “Strong-Buy” at Compass Point

Compass Point upgraded shares of Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Tuesday, Zacks.com reports.

ARCC has been the subject of several other reports. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a market outperform rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Ares Capital from $21.50 to $22.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $21.71.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

ARCC stock opened at $20.29 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $21.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.66. Ares Capital has a 12 month low of $18.55 and a 12 month high of $21.84. The company has a market capitalization of $12.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.95 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The investment management company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.03. Ares Capital had a net margin of 59.76% and a return on equity of 12.53%. The firm had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $714.27 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.58 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ares Capital will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 12th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.46%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is 65.75%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of ARCC. Nemes Rush Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Ares Capital by 62.7% in the second quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,233 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in Ares Capital by 323.3% during the first 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 during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.