Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Trading Down 0.6% After Analyst Downgrade

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) shares dropped 0.6% on Wednesday after Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on the stock from $23.00 to $22.00. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Ares Capital traded as low as $18.26 and last traded at $18.81. Approximately 3,360,194 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 14% from the average daily volume of 3,916,825 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.91.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Raymond James lowered shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.81.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ares Capital

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ARCC. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new position in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at $84,426,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter worth about $58,159,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $309,649,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489,552 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 81.0% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,678,525 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $58,633,000 after buying an additional 1,198,580 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Ares Capital by 26.0% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,268,547 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $93,439,000 after buying an additional 881,450 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.99. The firm has a market cap of $12.88 billion, a PE ratio of 7.68 and a beta of 0.77.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.20%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 78.37%.

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.