Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Increases Stock Holdings in The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG) by 201.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,351,432 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,244,131 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in The Carlyle Group were worth $320,684,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its stake 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 buying an additional 1,773,465 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of The Carlyle Group during the fourth quarter worth about $83,784,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of The Carlyle Group in the fourth quarter worth about $44,532,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in The Carlyle Group by 68.1% in the third 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. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in The Carlyle Group by 33.6% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,364,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $123,673,000 after purchasing an additional 594,661 shares during the last quarter. 55.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of The Carlyle Group from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Oppenheimer lowered shares of The Carlyle Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of The Carlyle Group from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com lowered The Carlyle Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on The Carlyle Group from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, The Carlyle Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.53.

The Carlyle Group Stock Performance

Shares of CG opened at $46.31 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a current ratio of 2.32. The Carlyle Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.65 and a 1 year high of $57.50. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $48.59 and a 200-day moving average of $49.62. The company has a market cap of $16.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.73.

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The financial services provider reported $0.92 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Carlyle Group Inc. will post 4.48 earnings per share for the current year.

The Carlyle Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.02%. The Carlyle Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.36%.

The Carlyle Group Company 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.