The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) Reaches New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $55.20 and last traded at $55.01, with a volume of 50629 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $54.27.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on The Carlyle Group from $78.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Barclays lifted their price target on The Carlyle Group from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on The Carlyle Group from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on The Carlyle Group from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com cut The Carlyle Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, December 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.44.

The Carlyle Group Price Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.94. The stock has a market cap of $19.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 190.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.69. 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 (NASDAQ:CG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $895.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $908.17 million. The Carlyle Group had a return on equity of 24.91% and a net margin of 2.21%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.87 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that The Carlyle Group Inc. will post 3.8 earnings per share for the current year.

The Carlyle Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 25th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. The Carlyle Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 482.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other The Carlyle Group news, Director Daniel A. D’aniello sold 495,542 shares of the business’s 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. The trade was a 1.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 27.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On The Carlyle Group

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 1,707,520 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in The Carlyle Group during the second quarter valued at $37,009,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in The Carlyle Group by 68.1% during the third 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 during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in The Carlyle Group by 22.8% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,107,301 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $90,740,000 after purchasing an additional 391,553 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC bought a new position in The Carlyle Group during the fourth quarter valued at $17,671,000. 55.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.