The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) Cut to Sell at StockNews.com

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

CG has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of The Carlyle Group from $56.00 to $54.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of The Carlyle Group from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of The Carlyle Group from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. 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 note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, 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 note on Wednesday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, The Carlyle Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $54.93.

The Carlyle Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CG opened at $49.86 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $17.83 billion, a PE ratio of 17.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.70. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $52.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.57. The Carlyle Group has a one year low of $36.65 and a one year high of $57.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a current ratio of 2.32.

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 10th. The financial services provider reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by ($0.08). The Carlyle Group had a net margin of 18.81% and a return on equity of 24.02%. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Carlyle Group will post 4.48 EPS for the current year.

The Carlyle Group Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in The Carlyle Group by 68.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,919,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $82,651,000 after buying an additional 777,304 shares in the last quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in The Carlyle Group by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC now owns 302,385 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,283,000 after buying an additional 18,537 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC purchased a new position in The Carlyle Group in the fourth quarter valued at $17,671,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in The Carlyle Group by 443.1% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 157,674 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,789,000 after buying an additional 128,644 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in The Carlyle Group by 26.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,423 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $122,000 after buying an additional 514 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.88% of the company’s stock.

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.