Carlyle Secured Lending, Inc. (NASDAQ:CGBD) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Carlyle Secured Lending, Inc. (NASDAQ:CGBD) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 385,500 shares, an increase of 5.0% from the March 31st total of 367,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 213,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.8 days. Approximately 0.9% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CGBD. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Carlyle Secured Lending from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Carlyle Secured Lending from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Carlyle Secured Lending

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Jump Financial LLC raised its holdings in Carlyle Secured Lending by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 11,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $170,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in shares of Carlyle Secured Lending by 1.4% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 72,802 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,056,000 after acquiring an additional 1,025 shares during the last quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC raised its holdings in shares of Carlyle Secured Lending by 1.9% during the third quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC now owns 66,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $966,000 after acquiring an additional 1,226 shares during the last quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust raised its holdings in shares of Carlyle Secured Lending by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust now owns 41,624 shares of the company’s stock valued at $623,000 after acquiring an additional 1,243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Carlyle Secured Lending by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 140,610 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,104,000 after acquiring an additional 1,812 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 24.51% of the company’s stock.

Carlyle Secured Lending Stock Performance

Shares of CGBD stock opened at $17.33 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $880.19 million, a PE ratio of 10.25 and a beta of 1.59. Carlyle Secured Lending has a 52-week low of $13.12 and a 52-week high of $17.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $15.43.

Carlyle Secured Lending (NASDAQ:CGBD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $62.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $42.86 million. Carlyle Secured Lending had a return on equity of 12.80% and a net margin of 38.19%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.48 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Carlyle Secured Lending will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

Carlyle Secured Lending Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 17th. Investors of record on Friday, March 29th were issued a $0.48 dividend. This is a boost from Carlyle Secured Lending’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.08%. Carlyle Secured Lending’s dividend payout ratio is presently 94.67%.

About Carlyle Secured Lending

Carlyle Secured Lending, Inc is business development company specializing in first lien debt, senior secured loans, second lien senior secured loan unsecured debt, mezzanine debt and investments in equities. It specializes in directly investing. It specializes in middle market. It targets healthcare and pharmaceutical, aerospace and defense, high tech industries, business services, software, beverage food and tobacco, hotel gamming and leisure, banking finance insurance and in real estate sector.