Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) to Issue $0.48 Quarterly Dividend

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 30th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of 0.48 per share by the investment management company on Monday, December 30th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.00%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th.

Ares Capital has increased its dividend by an average of 6.3% annually over the last three years. Ares Capital has a dividend payout ratio of 86.5% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings fall. Equities 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 Down 1.1 %

Shares of ARCC stock opened at $21.34 on Thursday. Ares Capital has a 1 year low of $18.86 and a 1 year high of $22.05. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $21.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $20.94. The company has a market cap of $13.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.31 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.59 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a net margin of 59.76% and a return on equity of 12.24%. The company had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.45 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ares Capital will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARCC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group raised shares of Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a report on Monday, August 5th. Compass Point upgraded Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, JMP Securities increased their target price on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.71.

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.