Carlyle Secured Lending, Inc. (NASDAQ:CGBD) Receives Average Recommendation of “Reduce” from Brokerages

Shares of Carlyle Secured Lending, Inc. (NASDAQ:CGBD) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $15.10.

CGBD has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on Carlyle Secured Lending in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. B. Riley reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $14.50 price objective (up previously from $14.00) on shares of Carlyle Secured Lending in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Carlyle Secured Lending from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $13.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Friday, July 25th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Carlyle Secured Lending

In other news, CFO Thomas M. Hennigan bought 7,285 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $13.75 per share, with a total value of $100,168.75. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer directly owned 88,495 shares in the company, valued at $1,216,806.25. This trade represents a 8.97% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John G. Nestor sold 13,238 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.49, for a total transaction of $178,580.62. Following the sale, the director directly owned 14,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $196,859.57. This trade represents a 47.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Carlyle Secured Lending

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CGBD. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Carlyle Secured Lending during the 4th quarter valued at $2,340,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its stake in shares of Carlyle Secured Lending by 81,343.8% in the first quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 26,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $422,000 after acquiring an additional 26,030 shares during the last quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Carlyle Secured Lending by 36.5% in the first quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 53,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $870,000 after acquiring an additional 14,381 shares during the last quarter. Canton Hathaway LLC increased its stake in shares of Carlyle Secured Lending by 271.0% in the first quarter. Canton Hathaway LLC now owns 9,795 shares of the company’s stock worth $158,000 after acquiring an additional 7,155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Carlyle Secured Lending by 17.1% in the first quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 10,297 shares of the company’s stock worth $167,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. 24.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Carlyle Secured Lending Stock Down 0.5%

NASDAQ:CGBD opened at $12.96 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $660.44 million, a PE ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 0.88. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $13.69 and a 200-day moving average of $14.21. Carlyle Secured Lending has a 52 week low of $12.82 and a 52 week high of $18.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Carlyle Secured Lending (NASDAQ:CGBD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39. The business had revenue of $67.28 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $67.53 million. Carlyle Secured Lending had a return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 29.71%. Analysts predict that Carlyle Secured Lending will post 1.97 EPS for the current year.

Carlyle Secured Lending Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 12.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. Carlyle Secured Lending’s payout ratio is 133.33%.

About Carlyle Secured Lending

Carlyle Secured Lending, Inc is business development company specializing in first lien debt, senior secured loans, second lien senior secured loan unsecured debt, mezzanine debt and investments in equities. It specializes in directly investing. It specializes in middle market. It targets healthcare and pharmaceutical, aerospace and defense, high tech industries, business services, software, beverage food and tobacco, hotel gamming and leisure, banking finance insurance and in real estate sector.