Norges Bank Acquires New Stake in The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG)

Norges Bank bought a new position in The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 882,006 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $44,532,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake 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 valued at $82,651,000 after acquiring an additional 777,304 shares during the last quarter. Korea Investment CORP increased its position in shares of The Carlyle Group by 28.6% during the 4th quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 165,660 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,364,000 after purchasing an additional 36,873 shares during the last quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Carlyle Group by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC now owns 302,385 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,283,000 after buying an additional 18,537 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC purchased a new stake in The Carlyle Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $17,671,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in The Carlyle Group by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,406,201 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $70,999,000 after acquiring an additional 14,024 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of The Carlyle Group from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of The Carlyle Group from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. 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. Oppenheimer lowered The Carlyle Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on The Carlyle Group from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, The Carlyle Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.00.

The Carlyle Group Stock Performance

CG stock opened at $35.89 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.51. The Carlyle Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $33.02 and a 12-month high of $57.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.96 billion, a PE ratio of 12.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.73. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The financial services provider reported $0.92 earnings per share 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, research analysts forecast that The Carlyle Group Inc. will post 4.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Carlyle Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.90%. The Carlyle Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.