Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.04 EPS

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC) issued its earnings results on Tuesday. The investment management company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.04), Zacks reports. Ares Capital had a net margin of 50.90% and a return on equity of 11.54%. The business had revenue of $599.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $769.32 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.59 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year.

Ares Capital Stock Down 2.7 %

ARCC stock opened at $20.67 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. Ares Capital has a 52 week low of $18.26 and a 52 week high of $23.84. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $21.50 and a 200 day moving average of $21.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.15 billion, a PE ratio of 8.44 and a beta of 0.77.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.29%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Ares Capital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 78.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on ARCC. Raymond James downgraded Ares Capital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Ares Capital from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ares Capital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Ares Capital from $24.50 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.22.

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.