William Blair Investment Management LLC Increases Holdings in The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG)

William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Carlyle Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CG) by 19.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,352,634 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 864,482 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned 1.49% of The Carlyle Group worth $171,017,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CG. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in The Carlyle Group by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 586,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,704,000 after acquiring an additional 20,136 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its position in The Carlyle Group by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 7,786 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $381,000 after acquiring an additional 531 shares during the period. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC acquired a new position in The Carlyle Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $200,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in The Carlyle Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $159,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. increased its position in The Carlyle Group by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 15,257,115 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $746,227,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020,504 shares during the period. 55.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Subsidiary Holdings L.L.C. Cg acquired 1,269,537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $8.52 per share, for a total transaction of $10,816,455.24. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 4,785,628 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,773,550.56. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 27.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

The Carlyle Group Price Performance

The Carlyle Group stock traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $31.81. 958,427 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,774,942. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 2.92 and a current ratio of 2.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.91, a P/E/G ratio of 8.49 and a beta of 1.71. The Carlyle Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.20 and a 12 month high of $38.32. The business’s 50-day moving average is $30.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.51.

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.15. The Carlyle Group had a net margin of 7.65% and a return on equity of 19.43%. The business had revenue of $776.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $835.81 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.42 earnings per share. The Carlyle Group’s revenue was down 44.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that The Carlyle Group Inc. will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The Carlyle Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 20th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.40%. The Carlyle Group’s payout ratio is 241.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on CG shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on The Carlyle Group from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 11th. StockNews.com started coverage on The Carlyle Group in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “sell” rating on the stock. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $52.00 price target on shares of The Carlyle Group in a report on Thursday, August 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on The Carlyle Group from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on The Carlyle Group in a report on Wednesday, October 4th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, The Carlyle Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.13.

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.