The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG - Free Report) by 32.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 487,506 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 231,771 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.14% of The Carlyle Group worth $20,992,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CG. Tobam bought a new stake in The Carlyle Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in The Carlyle Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in The Carlyle Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its stake in shares of The Carlyle Group by 1,600.0% in the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 1,700 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in The Carlyle Group by 147.9% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 55.88% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 924,466 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.14, for a total value of $1,978,357.24. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,643,231 shares in the company, valued at $7,796,514.34. This represents a 20.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Daniel A. D'aniello sold 495,542 shares of The Carlyle Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,674,936,376.06. The trade was a 1.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 2,171,556 shares of company stock worth $29,222,475. Company insiders own 27.20% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on The Carlyle Group from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. UBS Group upped their price objective on The Carlyle Group from $43.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of 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. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of The Carlyle Group from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of The Carlyle Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One research analyst has 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 company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $54.00.

The Carlyle Group Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of CG stock traded up $0.80 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $51.98. 1,284,263 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,343,822. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. The company has a market cap of $18.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 179.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.69. The Carlyle Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.65 and a fifty-two week high of $55.11. The stock's 50 day moving average is $51.69 and its 200-day moving average is $45.56.

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.08. The Carlyle Group had a net margin of 2.21% and a return on equity of 24.91%. The company had revenue of $895.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $908.17 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.87 EPS. The Carlyle Group's revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that The Carlyle Group Inc. will post 3.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Carlyle Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 25th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. The Carlyle Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 482.76%.

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.