Park Avenue Securities LLC Grows Position in Carlyle Group Inc. $CG

Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its position in Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG) by 12.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,682 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,379 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Carlyle Group were worth $652,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CG. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Carlyle Group by 4.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,292,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,058,929,000 after purchasing an additional 1,131,514 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in Carlyle Group by 484.4% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 623,440 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,176,000 after purchasing an additional 516,761 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Carlyle Group by 21.7% in the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,722,737 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $118,684,000 after purchasing an additional 485,488 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Carlyle Group in the first quarter worth about $20,793,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Carlyle Group by 7.5% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,827,559 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $297,613,000 after acquiring an additional 476,127 shares in the last quarter. 55.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Carlyle Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CG opened at $63.99 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $23.15 billion, a PE ratio of 18.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 2.01. Carlyle Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.02 and a twelve month high of $69.85. The company’s 50 day moving average is $63.85 and its 200 day moving average is $51.70. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52.

Carlyle Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Carlyle Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Carlyle Group from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $74.00 price objective (up previously from $66.00) on shares of Carlyle Group in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Carlyle Group from $45.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Carlyle Group from $49.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Carlyle Group from $54.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.93.

Insider Transactions at Carlyle Group

In related news, General Counsel Jeffrey W. Ferguson sold 202,606 shares of Carlyle Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.23, for a total value of $13,013,383.38. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 753,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,381,568.65. This trade represents a 21.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 26.30% of the company’s stock.

About 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.