Zhang Financial LLC Raises Stake in The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG)

Zhang Financial LLC boosted its stake in The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG) by 8.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 13,833 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,035 shares during the period. Zhang Financial LLC’s holdings in The Carlyle Group were worth $698,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $90,999,000 after purchasing an additional 137,541 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its holdings in shares of The Carlyle Group by 0.5% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 61,684 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,484,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in The Carlyle Group by 24.9% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 21,951 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $881,000 after buying an additional 4,377 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in The Carlyle Group by 15.6% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 577,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $23,199,000 after acquiring an additional 77,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in The Carlyle Group by 27.0% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 43,403 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,741,000 after purchasing an additional 9,238 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of The Carlyle Group from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on The Carlyle Group from $78.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on The Carlyle Group from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of The Carlyle Group from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered The Carlyle Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.44.

The Carlyle Group Price Performance

CG stock opened at $55.24 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a current ratio of 2.32. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $52.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.09. The Carlyle Group Inc. has a one year low of $36.65 and a one year high of $55.65. The company has a market capitalization of $19.76 billion, a PE ratio of 190.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.69.

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $895.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $908.17 million. The Carlyle Group had a net margin of 2.21% and a return on equity of 24.91%. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.87 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Carlyle Group Inc. will post 3.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Carlyle Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. The Carlyle Group’s payout ratio is 482.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other The Carlyle Group news, Director Daniel A. D’aniello sold 495,542 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 32,504,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,674,936,376.06. This trade represents a 1.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 27.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

The Carlyle Group 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.