Oppenheimer Raises Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Price Target to $22.00

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) had its price objective upped by Oppenheimer from $21.00 to $22.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the investment management company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. B. Riley lowered Ares Capital from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $21.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a market outperform rating and set a $21.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ares Capital presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $21.43.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

ARCC stock opened at $20.61 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.06. Ares Capital has a twelve month low of $17.53 and a twelve month high of $21.00. The firm has a market cap of $12.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.06 and a beta of 0.99.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The investment management company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $701.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $703.85 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.37% and a net margin of 62.77%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. Analysts predict that Ares Capital will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.32%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.75%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Capital

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 17.4% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 9,719,943 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $202,369,000 after acquiring an additional 1,437,864 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 1,865.8% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,214,991 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $844,260,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000,570 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital in the first quarter worth about $86,227,000. Advisors Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 0.8% in the third quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 3,043,209 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $59,251,000 after acquiring an additional 23,276 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 5.4% in the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,060,063 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $42,891,000 after acquiring an additional 105,277 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

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.