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

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) was upgraded by investment analysts at B. Riley to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Monday,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.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. One research 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.00.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Ares Capital stock opened at $21.32 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $21.26 and its 200-day moving average is $21.94. The company has a market cap of $14.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.40 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40. Ares Capital has a 12 month low of $18.26 and a 12 month high of $23.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The investment management company reported $0.50 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $599.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $769.32 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Ares Capital will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Ares Capital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Modern Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ares Capital by 1.6% during the first quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 61,614 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,365,000 after acquiring an additional 986 shares during the last quarter. Intrua Financial LLC increased its holdings in Ares Capital by 15.2% during the 1st quarter. Intrua Financial LLC now owns 17,980 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $398,000 after purchasing an additional 2,377 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Ares Capital by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 3,627,990 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $80,396,000 after purchasing an additional 104,339 shares during the last quarter. Rollins Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 10.2% in the first quarter. Rollins Financial Advisors LLC now owns 138,139 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $3,061,000 after buying an additional 12,838 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fortis Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 7.1% in the first quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC now owns 18,517 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $410,000 after buying an additional 1,232 shares during the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.