The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) Rating Lowered to "Sell" at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG - Free Report) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Sunday.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on CG. UBS Group raised their price target on The Carlyle Group from $43.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays upped their price target on shares of The Carlyle Group from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. TD Cowen boosted their target price 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. Morgan Stanley boosted 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, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on The Carlyle Group from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $53.33.

The Carlyle Group Stock Up 0.2 %

CG traded up $0.09 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $52.85. The company had a trading volume of 1,604,190 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,767,976. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $50.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $44.73. The company has a market capitalization of $18.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 182.24, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.69. The Carlyle Group has a 52 week low of $35.36 and a 52 week high of $55.11. 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 Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.08. The Carlyle Group had a return on equity of 24.91% and a net margin of 2.21%. The business had revenue of $895.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $908.17 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.87 EPS. The company's revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Carlyle Group will post 3.77 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 Monday, November 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.65%. The Carlyle Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 482.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 924,466 shares of The Carlyle Group stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 3,643,231 shares in the company, valued at $7,796,514.34. This trade represents a 20.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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 shares were sold at an average price of $51.53, for a total transaction of $25,535,279.26. Following the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,171,556 shares of company stock valued at $29,222,475 in the last ninety days. 27.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CG. Ariel Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of The Carlyle Group by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 4,937,725 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $198,250,000 after acquiring an additional 54,805 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of The Carlyle Group by 72.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,051,757 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $174,469,000 after purchasing an additional 1,707,520 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in The Carlyle Group by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,727,870 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $109,524,000 after buying an additional 55,662 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in The Carlyle Group by 6.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,266,595 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $90,999,000 after acquiring an additional 137,541 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of The Carlyle Group by 22.8% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,107,301 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $90,740,000 after acquiring an additional 391,553 shares in the last quarter. 55.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.