Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Raised to “Overweight” at Wells Fargo & Company

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) was upgraded by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on ARCC. B. Riley increased their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group raised Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Three research 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, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.29.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of Ares Capital stock opened at $21.69 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. Ares Capital has a 12 month low of $19.32 and a 12 month high of $22.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 53.71%. The company had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $770.45 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. Ares Capital’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ares Capital will post 2.36 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 29.8% in the third quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 20,615 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $432,000 after buying an additional 4,730 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 24.3% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 650,163 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $13,900,000 after purchasing an additional 127,219 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 6.2% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 63,385 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,327,000 after purchasing an additional 3,726 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 382.8% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 61,609 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,290,000 after buying an additional 48,848 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sfmg LLC boosted its stake in Ares Capital by 4.3% during the third quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 439,503 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $9,203,000 after buying an additional 18,056 shares during the period. 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.