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

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 1st, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of 0.48 per share by the investment management company on Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.21%.

Ares Capital has raised its dividend payment by an average of 6.3% per year over the last three years. Ares Capital has a payout ratio of 86.1% meaning 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 $2.25 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 85.3%.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

ARCC opened at $20.85 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $20.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.05. Ares Capital has a 1-year low of $17.53 and a 1-year high of $21.00. The company has a market cap of $12.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.81 and a beta of 0.99.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The investment management company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.60 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.50% and a net margin of 58.22%. The business had revenue of $701.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $703.85 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.56 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Ares Capital will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARCC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. B. Riley cut shares of Ares Capital from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Ares Capital from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.00.

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.