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

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 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 dividend yield of 8.52%.

Ares Capital has increased its dividend 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. 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 Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ARCC traded down $1.27 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $22.54. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,227,218 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,149,961. The firm 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 current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $22.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.49. Ares Capital has a one year low of $19.32 and a one year high of $23.84.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ARCC has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. B. Riley upped their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.79.

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.