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

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 5th,RTT News reports. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.31%.

Ares Capital has increased its dividend by an average of 5.8% annually over the last three years. Ares Capital has a payout ratio of 88.5% 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 $2.21 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 Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of ARCC opened at $23.10 on Thursday. Ares Capital has a 12 month low of $19.32 and a 12 month high of $23.84. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $22.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.51. 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 stock has a market cap of $14.92 billion, a PE ratio of 8.88 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ARCC shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Raymond James cut Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, B. Riley upped 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. Four 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.