The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) Rating Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report report published on Friday morning.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on CG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on The Carlyle Group from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group upped their price target on The Carlyle Group from $43.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of The Carlyle Group from $42.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of The Carlyle Group from $78.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of The Carlyle Group from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, The Carlyle Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.33.

The Carlyle Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CG opened at $54.39 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a current ratio of 2.32. The company has a market capitalization of $19.45 billion, a PE ratio of 187.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.70. The Carlyle Group has a 52-week low of $32.23 and a 52-week high of $55.11. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.12.

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.08. The Carlyle Group had a net margin of 2.21% and a return on equity of 24.91%. The company had revenue of $895.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $908.17 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.87 EPS. The Carlyle Group’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that The Carlyle Group will post 3.77 EPS for the current year.

The Carlyle Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 25th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.57%. The Carlyle Group’s payout ratio is 482.76%.

Insider Activity

In other The Carlyle Group news, Director Daniel A. D’aniello sold 495,542 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.53, for a total transaction of $25,535,279.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 32,504,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,674,936,376.06. This trade represents a 1.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 924,466 shares of The Carlyle Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.14, for a total transaction of $1,978,357.24. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,643,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,796,514.34. This trade represents a 20.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,171,556 shares of company stock valued at $29,222,475. 27.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of The Carlyle Group

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ariel Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of The Carlyle Group by 1.1% in the second quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 4,937,725 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $198,250,000 after buying an additional 54,805 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of The Carlyle Group by 72.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,051,757 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $174,469,000 after buying an additional 1,707,520 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in The Carlyle Group by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,727,870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $109,524,000 after buying an additional 55,662 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in shares of The Carlyle Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $109,122,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of The Carlyle Group by 6.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,266,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $90,999,000 after acquiring an additional 137,541 shares during the period. 55.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About The Carlyle Group

The Carlyle Group Inc is an investment firm specializing in direct and fund of fund investments. Within direct investments, it specializes in management-led/ Leveraged buyouts, privatizations, divestitures, strategic minority equity investments, structured credit, global distressed and corporate opportunities, small and middle market, equity private placements, consolidations and buildups, senior debt, mezzanine and leveraged finance, and venture and growth capital financings, seed/startup, early venture, emerging growth, turnaround, mid venture, late venture, PIPES.