Carlyle Secured Lending (NASDAQ:CGBD) Upgraded at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Carlyle Secured Lending (NASDAQ:CGBD) from an underweight rating to a neutral rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has $12.50 target price on the stock, down from their previous target price of $13.50.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. B. Riley reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $14.50 price target (up previously from $14.00) on shares of Carlyle Secured Lending in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Raymond James Financial started coverage on shares of Carlyle Secured Lending in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Carlyle Secured Lending from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $13.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Friday, July 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $14.80.

Carlyle Secured Lending Price Performance

Carlyle Secured Lending stock opened at $12.50 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $13.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $14.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $636.96 million, a PE ratio of 10.42 and a beta of 0.89. 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 has a 12-month low of $12.28 and a 12-month high of $18.64.

Carlyle Secured Lending (NASDAQ:CGBD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.39. The firm had revenue of $67.28 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $67.53 million. Carlyle Secured Lending had a net margin of 29.71% and a return on equity of 9.85%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Carlyle Secured Lending will post 1.97 EPS for the current year.

Carlyle Secured Lending Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.8%. Carlyle Secured Lending’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 133.33%.

Insider Transactions at Carlyle Secured Lending

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Corient Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Carlyle Secured Lending during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,289,000. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its position in shares of Carlyle Secured Lending by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 45,932 shares of the company’s stock worth $629,000 after buying an additional 2,040 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in shares of Carlyle Secured Lending by 1,011.6% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,313 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 3,925 shares during the last quarter. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc grew its position in shares of Carlyle Secured Lending by 139.0% in the 2nd quarter. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc now owns 102,219 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,398,000 after buying an additional 59,449 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oxford Asset Management LLP purchased a new position in shares of Carlyle Secured Lending in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $509,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.51% of the company’s stock.

Carlyle Secured Lending Company Profile

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.