Ares Capital Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders bought 27,969 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 370% compared to the typical volume of 5,947 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ARCC. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. B. Riley raised their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of 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 assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.43.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of ARCC traded up $0.31 on Friday, reaching $23.73. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,876,995 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,923,037. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.13 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.43. Ares Capital has a 12-month low of $19.32 and a 12-month high of $23.72.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted 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 return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 53.71%. The business had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $770.45 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.59 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Ares Capital will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Capital

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,145,706 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $309,649,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489,552 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $80,338,000 after purchasing an additional 63,999 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 2,104.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,613,285 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $756,620,000 after purchasing an additional 3,449,395 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Ares Capital by 3.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,387,097 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $70,926,000 after purchasing an additional 104,710 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 2,314,269 shares of the investment management company’s stock worth $50,659,000 after buying an additional 96,992 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

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.