Ares Capital Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 4,054 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 63% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,483 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ares Capital

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARCC. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 62.7% during the second quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,233 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ares Capital during the second quarter valued at $26,000. Horizon Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Ares Capital in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ares Capital during the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC lifted its position in Ares Capital by 88.9% during the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 1,700 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of Ares Capital stock traded down $0.09 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $21.74. 808,065 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,380,503. The company has a market cap of $14.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.40 and a beta of 1.01. Ares Capital has a fifty-two week low of $19.32 and a fifty-two week high of $22.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.02.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $770.45 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ares Capital will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.83%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is 73.85%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. B. Riley raised their target price on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group raised shares of Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. StockNews.com raised Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. JMP Securities boosted their price target on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Monday, August 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.86.

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.