Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Announces Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.01 EPS

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The investment management company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.01), Briefing.com reports. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.31% and a net margin of 53.71%. The firm had revenue of $755.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $770.45 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.59 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

NASDAQ ARCC opened at $21.14 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. Ares Capital has a 1 year low of $18.86 and a 1 year high of $22.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.13 and a beta of 1.01.

Ares Capital Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.08%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital’s payout ratio is currently 73.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ARCC. JMP Securities raised their price target on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. B. Riley upped their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Compass Point upgraded Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ares Capital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.86.

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.