Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Rating Increased to Overweight at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report released on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $23.00 target price on the investment management company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. StockNews.com raised Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Monday, August 5th. B. Riley boosted their price target on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group raised Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.29.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC opened at $22.10 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.28 billion, a PE ratio of 8.50 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $21.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.09. Ares Capital has a fifty-two week low of $19.32 and a fifty-two week high of $22.30.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a net margin of 53.71% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The company had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $770.45 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. Ares Capital’s revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ares Capital will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.69%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is presently 73.85%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Capital

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 12,656,154 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $272,107,000 after buying an additional 975,045 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,836,573 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $80,338,000 after buying an additional 63,999 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 2,104.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,613,285 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $756,620,000 after buying an additional 3,449,395 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 3,492,247 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $72,778,000 after buying an additional 273,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,217,277 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $46,430,000 after buying an additional 79,074 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.