The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG) Short Interest Update

The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,760,000 shares, a decline of 11.1% from the November 30th total of 10,980,000 shares. Currently, 4.0% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,470,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.0 days.

The Carlyle Group Stock Down 0.1 %

The Carlyle Group stock traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $50.49. 765,573 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,326,632. The Carlyle Group has a 1-year low of $36.65 and a 1-year high of $55.11. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $51.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $45.90. The stock has a market cap of $18.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 174.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.69. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38.

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 2.21% and a return on equity of 24.91%. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.87 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Carlyle Group will post 3.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Carlyle Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 25th. Shareholders 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 yield of 2.77%. The Carlyle Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 482.76%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CG. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of The Carlyle Group from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of 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. Evercore ISI upped their target price on The Carlyle Group from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of The Carlyle Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on The Carlyle Group from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, The Carlyle Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other The Carlyle Group news, Director Daniel A. D’aniello sold 495,542 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.53, for a total value of $25,535,279.26. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 32,504,102 shares of the company’s stock, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 924,466 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.14, for a total transaction of $1,978,357.24. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 3,643,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,796,514.34. This represents a 20.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,171,556 shares of company stock valued at $29,222,475 over the last 90 days. 27.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of CG. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in The Carlyle Group during the third quarter worth about $33,000. Tobam lifted its position in shares of The Carlyle Group by 32.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tobam now owns 890 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in The Carlyle Group in the second quarter valued at $50,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its stake in The Carlyle Group by 1,600.0% during the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 1,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of The Carlyle Group by 147.9% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,909 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 1,139 shares in the last quarter. 55.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.