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

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 5th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given 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 dividend yield of 8.52%.

Ares Capital has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.8% per year 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 fall. Equities 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 Price Performance

ARCC stock traded down $1.27 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $22.54. 2,227,218 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,149,961. Ares Capital has a twelve month low of $19.32 and a twelve month high of $23.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company has a market capitalization of $14.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.70 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50-day moving average of $22.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.49.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on ARCC. B. Riley boosted their target price on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.