The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) Upgraded at StockNews.com

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

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on CG. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on The Carlyle Group from $78.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of The Carlyle Group from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of The Carlyle Group from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of The Carlyle Group from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of The Carlyle Group from $56.00 to $54.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $54.93.

The Carlyle Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CG opened at $51.77 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $18.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 178.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.70. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $52.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $48.31. The Carlyle Group has a twelve month low of $36.65 and a twelve month high of $57.50. The company has a quick ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38.

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The financial services provider reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.08). The Carlyle Group had a net margin of 2.21% and a return on equity of 24.91%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Carlyle Group will post 3.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Carlyle Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. The Carlyle Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.36%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in The Carlyle Group by 201.4% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,351,432 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $320,684,000 after purchasing an additional 4,244,131 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of The Carlyle Group by 15.5% in the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 13,249,941 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $668,990,000 after purchasing an additional 1,773,465 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of The Carlyle Group by 72.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,051,757 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $174,469,000 after purchasing an additional 1,707,520 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of The Carlyle Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $83,784,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of The Carlyle Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,532,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.88% of the company’s stock.

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.