Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Price Target Lowered to $22.00 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) had its price objective decreased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $24.50 to $22.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the investment management company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on ARCC. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com downgraded Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.33.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC opened at $21.10 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $21.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.61 and a beta of 0.77. Ares Capital has a 1-year low of $18.26 and a 1-year high of $23.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ares Capital will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.10%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 78.37%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ARCC. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the fourth quarter worth $519,000. Round Rock Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,512,000. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Ares Capital by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 507,374 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $11,208,000 after acquiring an additional 25,347 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 24.3% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 650,163 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $13,900,000 after purchasing an additional 127,219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 43,056 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $942,000 after purchasing an additional 1,945 shares in the last quarter. 27.38% of the stock is 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.