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

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 18,550,000 shares, a growth of 10.0% from the July 15th total of 16,860,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,430,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.4 days.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of ARCC traded up $0.01 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $20.74. The stock had a trading volume of 2,304,769 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,451,424. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $20.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.67. Ares Capital has a fifty-two week low of $18.55 and a fifty-two week high of $21.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.10 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The investment management company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $714.27 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.24% and a net margin of 59.76%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.58 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ares Capital will post 2.38 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 65.75%.

Institutional Trading of Ares Capital

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 582,578 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $12,129,000 after buying an additional 29,671 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC raised its stake in Ares Capital by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 389,236 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $7,913,000 after purchasing an additional 20,202 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 614.8% in the 4th quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 7,198 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $144,000 after purchasing an additional 6,191 shares in the last quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 1,384,752 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $27,737,000 after purchasing an additional 85,561 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the first quarter valued at about $86,227,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Compass Point raised Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. JMP Securities upped their target price on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.71.

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.