Franklin Resources Inc. Purchases 16,723 Shares of The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG)

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG) by 145.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,210 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,723 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in The Carlyle Group were worth $1,215,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in shares of The Carlyle Group by 25.7% during the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 91,137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,659,000 after purchasing an additional 18,614 shares during the period. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Carlyle Group by 18.1% in the second quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,516 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $221,000 after purchasing an additional 844 shares during the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in The Carlyle Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in The Carlyle Group by 358.2% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 77,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,122,000 after purchasing an additional 60,772 shares during the period. Finally, Augustine Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of The Carlyle Group by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Augustine Asset Management Inc. now owns 62,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,523,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares during the period. 55.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at The Carlyle Group

In other The Carlyle Group news, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 92,905 shares of The Carlyle Group 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 transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel A. D’aniello sold 495,542 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.53, for a total transaction of $25,535,279.26. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 32,504,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,674,936,376.06. The trade was a 1.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,171,556 shares of company stock worth $29,222,475. 27.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

The Carlyle Group Stock Performance

Shares of CG opened at $50.87 on Friday. The Carlyle Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $36.65 and a 12-month high of $55.11. The company has a market cap of $18.20 billion, a PE ratio of 175.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $51.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.63.

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $895.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $908.17 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.87 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Carlyle Group Inc. will post 3.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Carlyle Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. The Carlyle Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 482.76%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of The Carlyle Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on The Carlyle Group from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on The Carlyle Group from $43.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. 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 report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of The Carlyle Group from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.00.

The Carlyle Group 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.