Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) saw a significant growth in short interest in July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 18,550,000 shares, a growth of 10.0% from the July 15th total of 16,860,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,430,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.4 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ARCC shares. JMP Securities raised their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Compass Point raised Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $21.50 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.71.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of ARCC stock traded up $0.01 during trading on Friday, reaching $20.74. The company had a trading volume of 2,304,769 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,451,424. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.67. Ares Capital has a one year low of $18.55 and a one year high of $21.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The company has a market capitalization of $12.75 billion, a PE ratio of 7.10 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The investment management company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.03. Ares Capital had a net margin of 59.76% and a return on equity of 12.24%. The company had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $714.27 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.58 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ares Capital will post 2.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.75%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARCC. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Ares Capital by 20.2% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 11,681,109 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $243,434,000 after acquiring an additional 1,961,166 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the 1st quarter worth about $86,227,000. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Ares Capital by 8.5% during the second 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. Advisors Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 7.8% in the first quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 3,099,134 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $64,524,000 after buying an additional 223,245 shares during the period. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in Ares Capital by 3.8% during the second quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,138,203 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $44,560,000 after buying an additional 78,140 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.