B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG) by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 12,864 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 495 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in The Carlyle Group were worth $559,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CG. SMH Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in The Carlyle Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $636,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in The Carlyle Group by 25.7% in the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 91,137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,659,000 after acquiring an additional 18,614 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its stake in The Carlyle Group by 297.1% in the second quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 159,596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,408,000 after acquiring an additional 119,402 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its holdings in The Carlyle Group by 74.2% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 44,984 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,806,000 after acquiring an additional 19,160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of The Carlyle Group by 15.6% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 577,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $23,199,000 after purchasing an additional 77,800 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on CG shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on The Carlyle Group from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays raised their target price on The Carlyle Group from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on The Carlyle Group from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of The Carlyle Group in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Finally, 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. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, The Carlyle Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.00.

The Carlyle Group Stock Performance

Shares of CG stock opened at $49.03 on Friday. The Carlyle Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.65 and a 52-week high of $55.11. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $51.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $45.26. The company has a quick ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.54 billion, a PE ratio of 169.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $895.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Carlyle Group Inc. will post 3.77 EPS for the current year.

The Carlyle Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 25th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. 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 firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.53, for a total value of $25,535,279.26. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 32,504,102 shares in the company, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Carlyle Group Inc. sold 92,905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.27, for a total transaction of $210,894.35. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 3,155,461 shares in the company, valued at $7,162,896.47. The trade was a 2.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,171,556 shares of company stock worth $29,222,475 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 27.20% 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.