Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) Cut to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report released on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

CG has been the topic of several other reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Carlyle Group from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Citizens Jmp upped their target price on Carlyle Group from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 target price on shares of Carlyle Group in a report on Monday, July 13th. Evercore set a $51.00 price target on Carlyle Group in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Carlyle Group from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.07.

Carlyle Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CG opened at $38.25 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $44.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $45.68. Carlyle Group has a 52 week low of $37.08 and a 52 week high of $67.30. The stock has a market cap of $13.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.84, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.88.

Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.16. Carlyle Group had a net margin of 10.08% and a return on equity of 22.52%. The company had revenue of $1.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $923.50 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 28.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Carlyle Group will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Carlyle Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. Carlyle Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 145.83%.

Insider Activity at Carlyle Group

In other news, Director David Rubenstein sold 400,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.74, for a total value of $17,096,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 26,899,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,149,690,784.56. The trade was a 1.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 25.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Carlyle Group

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Main Street Group LTD purchased a new position in shares of Carlyle Group during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new stake in shares of Carlyle Group in the second quarter valued at $35,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in Carlyle Group by 36.6% in the second quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 962 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Carlyle Group in the first quarter valued at $52,000. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Carlyle Group during the first quarter worth about $57,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.88% of the company’s stock.

Carlyle Group Company Profile

The Carlyle Group Inc is a global alternative asset management firm that invests across private equity, credit and investment solutions. The company manages funds and investment vehicles for institutional investors, private wealth clients and other investors, with strategies focused on private markets and long-term value creation.

Carlyle’s investment activities include corporate buyouts, growth capital, middle-market lending, structured credit, real assets and secondaries. Through its investment solutions business, the firm also provides access to private-market strategies and manages portfolios of private equity interests and other alternative investments.

Founded in 1987 by William E.