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 sent to investors on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $60.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the company. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of The Carlyle Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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 increased their price objective on shares of The Carlyle Group from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of The Carlyle Group from $43.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of The Carlyle Group from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.38.

The Carlyle Group Stock Performance

CG opened at $51.83 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 2.32 and a quick ratio of 2.32. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.11. The Carlyle Group has a 1 year low of $36.65 and a 1 year high of $55.11. The company has a market capitalization of $18.54 billion, a PE ratio of 178.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.69.

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) last released 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $908.17 million. The Carlyle Group had a net margin of 2.21% and a return on equity of 24.91%. The Carlyle Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.87 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that The Carlyle Group will post 3.77 EPS for the current year.

The Carlyle Group Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at The Carlyle Group

In related news, 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 32,504,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,674,936,376.06. This represents a 1.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 924,466 shares of The Carlyle Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.14, for a total transaction of $1,978,357.24. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,643,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,796,514.34. This trade represents a 20.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,037,913 shares of company stock worth $28,887,031 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 27.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CG. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of The Carlyle Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Tobam increased its stake in The Carlyle Group by 32.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tobam now owns 890 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in The Carlyle Group during the second quarter worth $50,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt lifted its stake in shares of The Carlyle Group by 1,600.0% in the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 1,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of The Carlyle Group by 147.9% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,909 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $77,000 after acquiring an additional 1,139 shares in the last quarter. 55.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.