DnB Asset Management AS Increases Stock Holdings in The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG)

DnB Asset Management AS increased its position in shares of The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG) by 104.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 317,323 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 162,147 shares during the period. DnB Asset Management AS’s holdings in The Carlyle Group were worth $16,022,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 777,304 shares during the last quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of The Carlyle Group by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC now owns 302,385 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,283,000 after buying an additional 18,537 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC purchased a new stake in shares of The Carlyle Group during the 4th quarter valued at $17,671,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in The Carlyle Group by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,406,201 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $70,999,000 after acquiring an additional 14,024 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in The Carlyle Group by 26.9% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,423 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $122,000 after purchasing an additional 514 shares in the last quarter. 55.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CG has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered The Carlyle Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of The Carlyle Group from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Wolfe Research raised shares of The Carlyle Group from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of The Carlyle Group from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on The Carlyle Group from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.53.

The Carlyle Group Price Performance

Shares of CG opened at $43.15 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $49.27 and a 200 day moving average of $49.42. The company has a quick ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The Carlyle Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.65 and a twelve month high of $57.50. The company has a market capitalization of $15.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.73.

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 10th. The financial services provider reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.08). The Carlyle Group had a net margin of 18.81% and a return on equity of 24.02%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Carlyle Group Inc. will post 4.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Carlyle Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. The Carlyle Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.36%.

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.