Cerity Partners LLC Decreases Holdings in The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG)

Cerity Partners LLC lowered its holdings in shares of The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 71,276 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 277 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in The Carlyle Group were worth $3,580,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of The Carlyle Group by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,161,423 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,169,420,000 after buying an additional 180,757 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its position in The Carlyle Group by 15.5% during the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 13,249,941 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $668,990,000 after acquiring an additional 1,773,465 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its position in The Carlyle Group by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,102,085 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $358,687,000 after purchasing an additional 467,767 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of The Carlyle Group by 201.4% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,351,432 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $320,684,000 after purchasing an additional 4,244,131 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its stake in shares of The Carlyle Group by 33.6% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,364,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $123,673,000 after buying an additional 594,661 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on CG shares. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of The Carlyle Group from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Barclays lowered their price target on The Carlyle Group from $55.00 to $43.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. StockNews.com lowered The Carlyle Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. JMP Securities dropped their price target on The Carlyle Group from $62.00 to $58.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded shares of The Carlyle Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.06.

The Carlyle Group Stock Performance

The Carlyle Group stock opened at $36.23 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $45.25 and its 200 day moving average is $49.26. The company has a market capitalization of $13.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.03, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.72. The Carlyle Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.02 and a twelve month high of $57.50. 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 (NASDAQ:CG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The financial services provider reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.08). The Carlyle Group had a return on equity of 24.02% and a net margin of 18.81%. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Carlyle Group Inc. will post 4.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Carlyle Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.86%. The Carlyle Group’s payout ratio is currently 50.36%.

The Carlyle Group 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.