Van ECK Associates Corp Sells 59,576 Shares of The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG)

Van ECK Associates Corp lowered its holdings in The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG - Free Report) by 39.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 93,121 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 59,576 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp's holdings in The Carlyle Group were worth $4,702,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CG. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of The Carlyle Group by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 58,600 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,959,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its position in shares of The Carlyle Group by 8,090.9% during the 4th quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 901 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 890 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Carlyle Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its position in shares of The Carlyle Group by 43.5% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 24,853 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,255,000 after acquiring an additional 7,539 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of The Carlyle Group by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 509,538 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $25,727,000 after acquiring an additional 7,891 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.88% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CG has been the topic of several analyst reports. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of The Carlyle Group from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Evercore ISI raised their target price 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of The Carlyle Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of The Carlyle Group from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of The Carlyle Group from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, The Carlyle Group presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $54.93.

The Carlyle Group Trading Down 3.5 %

Shares of CG stock traded down $1.80 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $49.86. 2,848,699 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,391,713. The Carlyle Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.65 and a 12 month high of $57.50. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $52.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.45. The stock has a market cap of $17.83 billion, a PE ratio of 17.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.70. 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 (NASDAQ:CG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The financial services provider reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.00 by ($0.08). The Carlyle Group had a return on equity of 24.02% and a net margin of 18.81%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Carlyle Group Inc. will post 4.48 EPS for the current year.

The Carlyle Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. The Carlyle Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 50.36%.

The Carlyle Group 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.