Carlyle Secured Lending (NASDAQ:CGBD) Price Target Lowered to $14.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Carlyle Secured Lending (NASDAQ:CGBD) had its target price lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $15.00 to $14.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Raymond James Financial upgraded Carlyle Secured Lending from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $15.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Carlyle Secured Lending from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $13.50 to $12.50 in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, B. Riley reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $14.50 price objective (up previously from $14.00) on shares of Carlyle Secured Lending in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.58.

Carlyle Secured Lending Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ CGBD traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $11.98. The stock had a trading volume of 428,266 shares, compared to its average volume of 405,378. The firm has a market cap of $610.50 million, a P/E ratio of 10.15 and a beta of 0.87. Carlyle Secured Lending has a fifty-two week low of $11.65 and a fifty-two week high of $18.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $12.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.61.

Carlyle Secured Lending (NASDAQ:CGBD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $66.51 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $69.61 million. Carlyle Secured Lending had a return on equity of 9.24% and a net margin of 30.18%. Research analysts anticipate that Carlyle Secured Lending will post 1.97 EPS for the current year.

Carlyle Secured Lending Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 13.4%. Carlyle Secured Lending’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 135.59%.

Insider Transactions at Carlyle Secured Lending

In related news, CFO Thomas M. Hennigan purchased 7,285 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $13.75 per share, with a total value of $100,168.75. Following the completion of 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 purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John G. Nestor sold 13,238 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.49, for a total transaction of $178,580.62. Following the sale, the director owned 14,593 shares in the company, valued at $196,859.57. The trade was a 47.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Carlyle Secured Lending

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CGBD. Condor Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Carlyle Secured Lending by 4.2% during the third quarter. Condor Capital Management now owns 182,951 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,287,000 after buying an additional 7,445 shares in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Carlyle Secured Lending by 9.4% during the third quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 38,090 shares of the company’s stock worth $476,000 after purchasing an additional 3,288 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Carlyle Secured Lending by 5.5% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 236,167 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,952,000 after buying an additional 12,310 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its holdings in Carlyle Secured Lending by 22.2% in the 3rd quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 267,882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,349,000 after buying an additional 48,706 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Carlyle Secured Lending by 18.7% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 79,895 shares of the company’s stock worth $999,000 after buying an additional 12,587 shares during the period. 24.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.