Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Hits New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $22.11 and last traded at $22.11, with a volume of 15877 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $22.02.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on ARCC shares. B. Riley upped their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Monday, August 5th. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Compass Point raised shares of Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.86.

Ares Capital Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $14.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.47 and a beta of 1.01. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.04. 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 (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.45 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.68%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.85%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Ares Capital by 8.3% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 12,656,154 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $272,107,000 after buying an additional 975,045 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Ares Capital by 1.7% during the third quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,836,573 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $80,338,000 after purchasing an additional 63,999 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $756,620,000 after purchasing an additional 3,449,395 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 8.5% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 3.7% during 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 in the last quarter. 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.