The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) Lowered to “Sell” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Friday.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on CG. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of The Carlyle Group from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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 report on Wednesday, October 9th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of The Carlyle Group from $78.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.33.

The Carlyle Group Price 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 Carlyle Group has a 52-week low of $32.23 and a 52-week high of $55.11. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.12. The stock has a market cap of $19.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 187.55, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.70.

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.08. The firm 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.87 EPS. Analysts anticipate that The Carlyle Group will post 3.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Carlyle Group Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CG. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of The Carlyle Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $228,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in The Carlyle Group by 121.4% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 3,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $145,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of The Carlyle Group by 167.0% in the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 1,928 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $90,000 after acquiring an additional 1,206 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of The Carlyle Group in the first quarter valued at about $23,455,000. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in The Carlyle Group during the first quarter worth about $55,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.