Brokerages Set The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG) Price Target at $54.00

Shares of The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fifteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $54.00.

CG has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of The Carlyle Group from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of The Carlyle Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, December 8th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of The Carlyle Group in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays boosted their price objective on The Carlyle Group from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on The Carlyle Group from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th.

The Carlyle Group Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CG opened at $51.78 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 178.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.69. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.20. The Carlyle Group has a 52-week low of $36.65 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) last issued 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 Carlyle Group had a return on equity of 24.91% and a net margin of 2.21%. The company had revenue of $895.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $908.17 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.87 EPS. The Carlyle Group’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Carlyle Group will post 3.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Carlyle Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 25th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.70%. The Carlyle Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 482.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling 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 stock was sold at an average price of $51.53, for a total value of $25,535,279.26. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 32,504,102 shares in the company, valued at $1,674,936,376.06. This trade represents a 1.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 275,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.20, for a total value of $605,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,405,461 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,292,014.20. The trade was a 10.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 2,171,556 shares of company stock worth $29,222,475. 27.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ariel Investments LLC increased its position in shares of The Carlyle Group by 1.1% in the second 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 raised its stake in The Carlyle Group by 72.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,051,757 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $174,469,000 after purchasing an additional 1,707,520 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of The Carlyle Group by 2.1% in the second 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 purchasing an additional 55,662 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 137,541 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in 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 buying an additional 391,553 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.88% of the company’s stock.

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.