Wolfe Research Upgrades The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) to “Outperform”

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

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on CG. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of The Carlyle Group in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on The Carlyle Group from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of The Carlyle Group from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of The Carlyle Group from $78.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of The Carlyle Group from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $54.38.

The Carlyle Group Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CG opened at $51.83 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 178.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.69. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.02. The Carlyle Group has a 52-week low of $36.65 and a 52-week high of $55.11. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $895.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $908.17 million. The Carlyle Group had a net margin of 2.21% and a return on equity of 24.91%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Carlyle Group will post 3.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Carlyle Group Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other The Carlyle Group news, Director Daniel A. D’aniello sold 495,542 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 32,504,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,674,936,376.06. This trade represents a 1.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 133,643 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.51, for a total transaction of $335,443.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,767,697 shares in the company, valued at $11,966,919.47. This represents a 2.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 2,171,556 shares of company stock worth $29,222,475. Corporate insiders own 27.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On The Carlyle Group

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of The Carlyle Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $390,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Carlyle Group by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,463 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $276,000 after buying an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in The Carlyle Group by 68.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,919,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $82,651,000 after buying an additional 777,304 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in The Carlyle Group by 4.0% in the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 12,864 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $559,000 after buying an additional 495 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in The Carlyle Group by 145.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 28,210 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,215,000 after purchasing an additional 16,723 shares in the last quarter. 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.