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

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 30th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of 0.48 per share by the investment management company on Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th.

Ares Capital has increased its dividend by an average of 6.3% annually 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. Equities analysts expect Ares Capital to earn $2.24 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 85.7%.

Ares Capital Price Performance

Shares of ARCC stock opened at $20.53 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The company has a market capitalization of $12.94 billion, a PE ratio of 7.03 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $20.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.76. Ares Capital has a 12 month low of $18.55 and a 12 month high of $21.84.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The investment management company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $714.27 million. Ares Capital had a net margin of 59.76% and a return on equity of 12.24%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.58 EPS. Analysts predict that Ares Capital will post 2.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ARCC shares. Compass Point raised Ares Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. JMP Securities boosted their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group raised shares of Ares Capital to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Four 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.71.

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.