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

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

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on CG. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of The Carlyle Group from $78.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target 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. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of The Carlyle Group from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report 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 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of The Carlyle Group from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.93.

The Carlyle Group Price Performance

Shares of The Carlyle Group stock opened at $52.01 on Thursday. 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $52.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.45. The Carlyle Group has a twelve month low of $36.65 and a twelve month high of $57.50. The firm has a market cap of $18.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.70.

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The financial services provider reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, research analysts expect that The Carlyle Group will post 4.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Carlyle Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. The Carlyle Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.36%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On The Carlyle Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Creative Planning increased its stake in The Carlyle Group by 7.4% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 12,787 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $551,000 after purchasing an additional 882 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in The Carlyle Group by 147.9% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,909 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 1,139 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in The Carlyle Group by 11.3% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 546,405 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $23,528,000 after purchasing an additional 55,364 shares in the last quarter. SOL Capital Management CO increased its stake in The Carlyle Group by 5.2% in the third quarter. SOL Capital Management CO now owns 151,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,508,000 after purchasing an additional 7,510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in The Carlyle Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $67,540,000. 55.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.