Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of The Carlyle Group Call Options (NASDAQ:CG)

The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Investors acquired 6,858 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 395% compared to the typical volume of 1,385 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their target price on The Carlyle Group from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of The Carlyle Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of The Carlyle Group from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of The Carlyle Group from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded The Carlyle Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 8th. One equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.44.

The Carlyle Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ CG traded up $0.39 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $54.29. 1,373,519 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,916,387. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a current ratio of 2.32. The Carlyle Group has a 1 year low of $36.65 and a 1 year high of $55.11. The business’s 50 day moving average is $51.92 and its 200-day moving average is $46.73. The company has a market capitalization of $19.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 186.84, a P/E/G 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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $895.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $908.17 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.87 EPS. The Carlyle Group’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Carlyle Group will post 3.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Carlyle Group Dividend Announcement

The business 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. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. 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 stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.53, for a total transaction of $25,535,279.26. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 32,504,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,674,936,376.06. This represents a 1.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 27.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On The Carlyle Group

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $174,469,000 after buying an additional 1,707,520 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in The Carlyle Group by 17,468.6% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,715,748 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $68,887,000 after acquiring an additional 1,705,982 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in The Carlyle Group in the second quarter valued at $37,009,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of The Carlyle Group by 68.1% during 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 during the period. Finally, Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC acquired a new stake in shares of The Carlyle Group during the 4th quarter worth about $17,671,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.88% of the company’s stock.

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.