The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) Hits New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG) reached a new 52-week high on Friday . The stock traded as high as $55.20 and last traded at $55.01, with a volume of 50629 shares. The stock had previously closed at $54.27.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CG. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on The Carlyle Group from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group raised their target price on The Carlyle Group from $43.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on The Carlyle Group from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com lowered The Carlyle Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, December 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on The Carlyle Group from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.44.

The Carlyle Group Trading Up 1.8 %

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.78. The company has a quick ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.77 billion, a PE ratio of 190.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.69.

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.08. The Carlyle Group had a net margin of 2.21% and a return on equity of 24.91%. The business had revenue of $895.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $908.17 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that The Carlyle Group Inc. will post 3.8 earnings per share for the current year.

The Carlyle Group Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at The Carlyle Group

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 value of $25,535,279.26. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 32,504,102 shares in the company, valued at $1,674,936,376.06. This trade represents a 1.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 27.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of The Carlyle Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of The Carlyle Group by 3.6% during the third quarter. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 5,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of The Carlyle Group by 0.5% during the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 41,742 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,797,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Tobam increased its stake in shares of The Carlyle Group by 32.8% during the third quarter. Tobam now owns 890 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP increased its position in shares of The Carlyle Group by 10.6% during the third quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP now owns 3,284 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $141,000 after acquiring an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position 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 valued at $2,484,000 after acquiring an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. 55.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About The Carlyle Group

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.