Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Stake in The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG)

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG) by 40.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,988 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,619 shares during the period. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in The Carlyle Group were worth $807,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in The Carlyle Group by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 67,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,395,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. increased its holdings in shares of The Carlyle Group by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 80,820 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,081,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its stake in The Carlyle Group by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 46,607 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,353,000 after buying an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. DMC Group LLC grew its holdings in The Carlyle Group by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. DMC Group LLC now owns 6,932 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $350,000 after buying an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of The Carlyle Group by 31.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.88% of the company’s stock.

The Carlyle Group Price Performance

The Carlyle Group stock opened at $35.89 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $47.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $49.51. The firm has a market cap of $12.96 billion, a PE ratio of 12.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.73. The company has a quick ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The Carlyle Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $33.02 and a 52-week high of $57.50.

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The financial services provider reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by ($0.08). The Carlyle Group had a net margin of 18.81% and a return on equity of 24.02%. On average, research analysts expect that The Carlyle Group Inc. will post 4.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Carlyle Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.90%. The Carlyle Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on CG shares. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of The Carlyle Group from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wolfe Research raised shares of The Carlyle Group from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on The Carlyle Group from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. StockNews.com downgraded The Carlyle Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut The Carlyle Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.00.

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.