Carlyle Secured Lending, Inc. (NASDAQ:CGBD) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Carlyle Secured Lending, Inc. (NASDAQ:CGBD) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the seven research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $12.50.

A number of brokerages recently commented on CGBD. B. Riley Financial reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Carlyle Secured Lending in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Carlyle Secured Lending from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Carlyle Secured Lending by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 519,735 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,491,000 after buying an additional 101,242 shares during the period. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new position in shares of Carlyle Secured Lending in the 4th quarter valued at $1,217,000. Muzinich & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in Carlyle Secured Lending by 47.3% during the fourth quarter. Muzinich & Co. Inc. now owns 736,442 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,198,000 after buying an additional 236,524 shares in the last quarter. TrueMark Investments LLC increased its holdings in Carlyle Secured Lending by 517.5% in the fourth quarter. TrueMark Investments LLC now owns 111,844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,397,000 after buying an additional 93,731 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Carlyle Secured Lending in the first quarter valued at $1,657,000. 24.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Carlyle Secured Lending Price Performance

NASDAQ:CGBD opened at $10.04 on Monday. Carlyle Secured Lending has a 1-year low of $9.98 and a 1-year high of $14.32. The company has a 50-day moving average of $10.69 and a 200 day moving average of $11.32. The firm has a market cap of $697.78 million, a PE ratio of 14.14 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.72 and a quick ratio of 1.72.

Carlyle Secured Lending (NASDAQ:CGBD) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.01. Carlyle Secured Lending had a net margin of 19.52% and a return on equity of 8.99%. The business had revenue of $64.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $65.78 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Carlyle Secured Lending will post 1.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Carlyle Secured Lending Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.9%. Carlyle Secured Lending’s payout ratio is 197.18%.

About Carlyle Secured Lending

Carlyle Secured Lending, Inc (NASDAQ: CGBD) is a closed-end, non-diversified business development company that provides customized debt financing solutions to middle-market companies. Chartered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, the company invests primarily in floating-rate senior secured loans, including first-lien, unitranche and one-stop structures. Its objective is to generate current income and capital appreciation through disciplined credit selection and active portfolio management.

The firm focuses on U.S.