Fifth Third Bancorp Acquires 89,518 Shares of The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG)

Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in shares of The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG) by 9,305.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 90,480 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 89,518 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in The Carlyle Group were worth $3,944,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. National Pension Service bought a new position in shares of The Carlyle Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its holdings in The Carlyle Group by 5,100.0% in the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares in the last quarter. Main Street Group LTD bought a new position in The Carlyle Group in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in The Carlyle Group in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in The Carlyle Group by 117.2% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 973 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on CG. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on The Carlyle Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Cowen upgraded The Carlyle Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on The Carlyle Group from $57.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Oppenheimer downgraded The Carlyle Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded The Carlyle Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $56.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.00.

The Carlyle Group Price Performance

NASDAQ CG opened at $46.19 on Friday. The Carlyle Group Inc. has a one year low of $33.02 and a one year high of $57.50. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $42.04 and a 200 day moving average of $47.01. The company has a market capitalization of $16.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.62, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.85. 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 Friday, May 9th. The financial services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.17. The Carlyle Group had a return on equity of 24.02% and a net margin of 18.81%. The company had revenue of $973.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $972.27 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.01 EPS. The Carlyle Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Carlyle Group Inc. will post 4.48 EPS for the current year.

The Carlyle Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The Carlyle Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.46%.

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.