Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) Shareholders to Get $0.48 Quarterly Dividend

Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:ARCC) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share by the investment management company on Tuesday, December 29th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 15th.

Ares Capital has a dividend payout ratio of 96.0% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings decline. Equities research analysts expect Ares Capital to earn $1.95 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 98.5%.

Ares Capital Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ARCC opened at $18.43 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $19.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.06. Ares Capital has a fifty-two week low of $17.40 and a fifty-two week high of $21.14.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The investment management company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $763.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $776.34 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ares Capital will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ARCC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ares Capital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 19th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ares Capital in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Ares Capital in a research note on Wednesday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.39.

Ares Capital Company Profile

Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: ARCC) is a business development company that provides financing to middle-market companies. The company primarily invests in first-lien senior secured loans, second-lien loans, subordinated debt, and, to a lesser extent, equity securities. Its investments are generally designed to support acquisitions, recapitalizations, refinancings, growth initiatives, and other corporate activities.

Founded in 2004, Ares Capital is externally managed by Ares Capital Management LLC, an affiliate of Ares Management Corporation.