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

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 5th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.48 per share by the investment management company on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.31%.

Ares Capital has increased its dividend payment by an average of 5.8% annually over the last three years. Ares Capital has a dividend payout ratio of 88.5% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble. Analysts expect Ares Capital to earn $2.21 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 86.9%.

Ares Capital Stock Down 3.0 %

ARCC stock opened at $23.10 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Ares Capital has a 12 month low of $19.32 and a 12 month high of $23.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.92 billion, a PE ratio of 8.88 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.51.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The investment management company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.03). Ares Capital had a net margin of 53.71% and a return on equity of 12.06%. Equities analysts expect that Ares Capital will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on ARCC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. B. Riley boosted their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com upgraded Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Raymond James cut Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.79.

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.