The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) Rating Increased to Outperform at Wolfe Research

Wolfe Research upgraded shares of The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating in a report released on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. Wolfe Research currently has $60.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on The Carlyle Group from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on The Carlyle Group from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on The Carlyle Group from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays lifted their target price on The Carlyle Group from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of The Carlyle Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.38.

The Carlyle Group Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of CG opened at $51.83 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. The Carlyle Group has a 12 month low of $36.65 and a 12 month high of $55.11. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $51.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.02. The firm has a market cap of $18.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 178.72, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.69.

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

The Carlyle Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. The Carlyle Group’s payout ratio is currently 482.76%.

Insider Activity

In other The Carlyle Group news, Director Daniel A. D’aniello sold 495,542 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now directly 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 92,905 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.27, for a total value of $210,894.35. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,155,461 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,162,896.47. The trade was a 2.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,171,556 shares of company stock valued at $29,222,475. Insiders own 27.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of The Carlyle Group

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CG. FMR LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $174,469,000 after buying an additional 1,707,520 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in The Carlyle Group by 17,468.6% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,715,748 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $68,887,000 after purchasing an additional 1,705,982 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in The Carlyle Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $37,009,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in The Carlyle Group by 68.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,919,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $82,651,000 after purchasing an additional 777,304 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in The Carlyle Group by 89.3% in the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 764,765 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,269,000 after purchasing an additional 360,729 shares in the last quarter. 55.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

The Carlyle Group Company Profile

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.