Investors Buy High Volume of Ares Capital Put Options (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors acquired 10,067 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 30% compared to the typical daily volume of 7,761 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ares Capital

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Montag & Caldwell LLC acquired a new position in Ares Capital during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ares Capital in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new position in Ares Capital during the 4th quarter worth about $48,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Ares Capital during the 4th quarter worth about $60,000. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in Ares Capital by 92.6% during the 4th quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 2,889 shares of the investment management company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 1,389 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company’s stock.

Ares Capital Trading Down 0.6 %

ARCC stock traded down $0.13 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $22.18. 797,548 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,703,163. Ares Capital has a 1-year low of $19.32 and a 1-year high of $23.84. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $15.12 billion, a PE ratio of 9.06 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.95.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 11.54% and a net margin of 50.90%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ares Capital will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.66%. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 78.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ARCC. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James cut Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.94.

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.