Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Upgraded at B. Riley

B. Riley upgraded shares of Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) to a hold rating in a research report report published on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports. B. Riley also issued estimates for Ares Capital’s Q1 2026 earnings at $0.50 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $0.49 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $0.49 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $0.49 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $1.97 EPS.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ares Capital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.00.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

ARCC opened at $21.32 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.94. Ares Capital has a 1-year low of $18.26 and a 1-year high of $23.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.40 and a beta of 0.68.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.04). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.05% and a net margin of 43.50%. The business had revenue of $599.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $769.32 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Ares Capital will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.01%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 93.66%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ares Capital

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ARCC. Prostatis Group LLC increased its stake in Ares Capital by 2.1% in the first quarter. Prostatis Group LLC now owns 21,768 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $482,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors increased its stake in Ares Capital by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 12,521 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $274,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the period. BankPlus Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Ares Capital by 2.5% in the first quarter. BankPlus Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,809 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $439,000 after purchasing an additional 492 shares during the period. Fiduciary Group LLC increased its stake in Ares Capital by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC now owns 21,851 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $478,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 1.2% during the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 47,935 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,062,000 after acquiring an additional 560 shares during the period. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.