The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) Reaches New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on CG. StockNews.com lowered The Carlyle Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, December 8th. TD Cowen raised their price target on The Carlyle Group from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Wolfe Research raised The Carlyle Group from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on The Carlyle Group from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on The Carlyle Group from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.44.

The Carlyle Group Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 2.32 and a quick ratio of 2.32. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.94. The stock has a market cap of $19.76 billion, a P/E 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $895.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $908.17 million. The Carlyle Group had a return on equity of 24.91% and a net margin of 2.21%. The company’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.87 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that The Carlyle Group Inc. will post 3.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Carlyle Group Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at The Carlyle Group

In related news, Director Daniel A. D’aniello sold 495,542 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $1,674,936,376.06. The trade was a 1.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 27.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CG. Ariel Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of The Carlyle Group by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 4,937,725 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $198,250,000 after purchasing an additional 54,805 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of The Carlyle Group by 72.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,051,757 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $174,469,000 after purchasing an additional 1,707,520 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of The Carlyle Group by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,266,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $90,999,000 after purchasing an additional 137,541 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of The Carlyle Group by 22.8% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,107,301 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $90,740,000 after purchasing an additional 391,553 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of The Carlyle Group by 68.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,919,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $82,651,000 after purchasing an additional 777,304 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.88% of the company’s stock.

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.