Investors Buy High Volume of Call Options on The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG)

The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG) saw unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock investors purchased 6,629 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 280% compared to the average daily volume of 1,746 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On The Carlyle Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in The Carlyle Group by 68.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,919,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $82,651,000 after purchasing an additional 777,304 shares during the last quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC increased its stake in The Carlyle Group by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC now owns 302,385 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,283,000 after buying an additional 18,537 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC purchased a new position in The Carlyle Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $17,671,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of The Carlyle Group by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,406,201 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $70,999,000 after acquiring an additional 14,024 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of The Carlyle Group by 26.9% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,423 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $122,000 after acquiring an additional 514 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on CG. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of The Carlyle Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on The Carlyle Group from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. StockNews.com cut The Carlyle Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on The Carlyle Group from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on The Carlyle Group from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, The Carlyle Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.53.

The Carlyle Group Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CG opened at $46.53 on Wednesday. The Carlyle Group has a 52-week low of $36.65 and a 52-week 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $49.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.43. The stock has a market cap of $16.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.74, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.73.

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) last released its quarterly earnings data 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, research analysts expect that The Carlyle Group will post 4.48 earnings per share for the current year.

The Carlyle Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. The Carlyle Group’s payout ratio is 50.36%.

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.