Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Put Options on The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG)

The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders purchased 6,116 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 361% compared to the average volume of 1,328 put options.

The Carlyle Group Price Performance

Shares of CG stock traded down $0.86 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $51.64. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 815,735 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,890,493. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average is $52.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.20. The Carlyle Group has a 1-year low of $36.65 and a 1-year high of $57.50. The company has a market cap of $18.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 178.60, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.70.

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $895.00 million for 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 quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.87 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that The Carlyle Group will post 3.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CG. StockNews.com lowered The Carlyle Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, December 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. UBS Group increased their price objective on The Carlyle Group from $43.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wolfe Research raised shares of The Carlyle Group from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of The Carlyle Group from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other The Carlyle Group news, Director Daniel A. D’aniello sold 495,542 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 32,504,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,674,936,376.06. The trade was a 1.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 27.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in The Carlyle Group by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 5,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its position in The Carlyle Group by 0.5% in the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 41,742 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,797,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in shares of The Carlyle Group by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 80,820 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,081,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the period. Finally, DMC Group LLC lifted its holdings in The Carlyle Group by 4.3% in the fourth 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 during the period. 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.