Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.48

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 30th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of 0.48 per share by the investment management company on Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.01%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th.

Ares Capital has raised its dividend by an average of 6.3% per year over the last three years. Ares Capital has a payout ratio of 87.3% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble. Research analysts expect Ares Capital to earn $2.22 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.92 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 86.5%.

Ares Capital Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of ARCC stock opened at $21.32 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $21.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.10 billion, a PE ratio of 7.29 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.63. Ares Capital has a 1-year low of $18.55 and a 1-year high of $21.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The investment management company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.03. Ares Capital had a net margin of 62.77% and a return on equity of 12.37%. The business had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $714.27 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.58 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ares Capital will post 2.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ARCC. JMP Securities upped their price target on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Ares Capital from $21.50 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.71.

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.