Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Price Target Cut to $23.00 by Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) had its price objective reduced by Royal Bank of Canada from $24.00 to $23.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the investment management company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Raymond James cut shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.00.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC opened at $20.71 on Tuesday. Ares Capital has a 1 year low of $18.26 and a 1 year high of $23.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.45 and a beta of 0.70. 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 moving average price of $21.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.90.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.04). Ares Capital had a net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. The firm had revenue of $599.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $769.32 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ares Capital will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.27%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 93.66%.

Institutional Trading of Ares Capital

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 8.5% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 1,124,794 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $24,925,000 after buying an additional 88,104 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in Ares Capital by 75.8% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 186,070 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $4,123,000 after acquiring an additional 80,204 shares during the period. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC purchased a new stake in Ares Capital in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,189,000. Carnegie Investment Counsel boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 322,812 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $7,154,000 after purchasing an additional 13,790 shares during the period. Finally, Black Swift Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 1st quarter valued at $443,000. 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.