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

Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 30th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of 0.48 per share by the investment management company on Monday, December 30th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.00%.

Ares Capital has increased its dividend payment by an average of 6.3% per year over the last three years. Ares Capital has a dividend payout ratio of 86.5% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company's earnings tumble. Analysts expect Ares Capital to earn $2.22 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 86.5%.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

Shares of ARCC stock traded down $0.23 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $21.34. 4,193,935 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,369,656. The firm's 50-day moving average is $20.99 and its 200 day moving average is $20.93. The company has a market capitalization of $13.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.39 and a beta of 1.01. Ares Capital has a 1 year low of $18.86 and a 1 year high of $22.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The investment management company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $714.27 million. Ares Capital had a return on equity of 12.24% and a net margin of 59.76%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.58 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Ares Capital will post 2.39 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Compass Point upgraded Ares Capital to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. JMP Securities boosted their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Ares Capital to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $21.71.

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.