Ares Capital Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 10,067 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 30% compared to the average volume of 7,761 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James lowered shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.94.

Ares Capital Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Ares Capital stock opened at $22.36 on Friday. Ares Capital has a 1-year low of $19.32 and a 1-year high of $23.84. The company has a market capitalization of $15.24 billion, a PE ratio of 9.13 and a beta of 1.00. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $22.82 and a 200-day moving average of $21.96.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ares Capital will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.59%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 78.37%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARCC. Montag & Caldwell LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Ares Capital in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Ares Capital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $60,000. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 92.6% in the 4th quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 2,889 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 1,389 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is currently owned by 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.