Argent Capital Management LLC Lowers Stake in The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG)

Argent Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG - Free Report) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,995,109 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 35,320 shares during the period. The Carlyle Group makes up 2.8% of Argent Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Argent Capital Management LLC owned about 0.56% of The Carlyle Group worth $100,733,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of The Carlyle Group by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 48,374 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,942,000 after acquiring an additional 3,883 shares in the last quarter. Choreo LLC bought a new position in shares of The Carlyle Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $291,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of The Carlyle Group by 17,468.6% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,715,748 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $68,887,000 after buying an additional 1,705,982 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of The Carlyle Group by 6.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,266,595 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $90,999,000 after acquiring an additional 137,541 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its holdings in The Carlyle Group by 20.0% during the second quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 7,653 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $307,000 after acquiring an additional 1,275 shares during the period. 55.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CG has been the topic of several research reports. Wolfe Research raised shares of The Carlyle Group from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $60.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of The Carlyle Group from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of The Carlyle Group in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of The Carlyle Group from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on The Carlyle Group from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, The Carlyle Group has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $54.44.

Insider Activity at The Carlyle Group

In related news, Director Daniel A. D'aniello sold 495,542 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director now owns 32,504,102 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,674,936,376.06. This trade represents a 1.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 27.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

The Carlyle Group Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of The Carlyle Group stock traded up $0.37 on Thursday, hitting $54.27. The stock had a trading volume of 2,421,023 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,028,762. The stock has a market cap of $19.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 187.14, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.69. 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 stock's 50-day simple moving average is $51.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $46.73. The Carlyle Group Inc. has a one year low of $36.65 and a one year high of $55.11.

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $895.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $908.17 million. The Carlyle Group had a net margin of 2.21% and a return on equity of 24.91%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Carlyle Group Inc. will post 3.8 EPS for the current year.

The Carlyle Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. The Carlyle Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 482.76%.

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.