Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Stock Price Down 0.6% After Analyst Downgrade

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) shares traded down 0.6% on Wednesday after Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on the stock from $23.00 to $22.00. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Ares Capital traded as low as $18.26 and last traded at $18.81. 3,360,194 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 14% from the average session volume of 3,916,825 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.91.

ARCC has been the subject of a number of other reports. StockNews.com cut Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James cut shares of Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ares Capital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.81.

Institutional Trading of Ares Capital

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Naples Global Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 2.0% during the first quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 60,585 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,343,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Accel Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 7.9% during the first quarter. Accel Wealth Management now owns 50,346 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $1,116,000 after buying an additional 3,668 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Ares Capital by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 205,329 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $4,550,000 after buying an additional 12,488 shares during the period. Clarus Wealth Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the 1st quarter valued at about $264,000. Finally, Romano Brothers AND Company raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company now owns 356,439 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $7,899,000 after acquiring an additional 2,202 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Stock Down 4.9 %

The firm has a market cap of $13.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.10 and a beta of 0.77. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $22.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.68%. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is 78.37%.

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.