KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Thursday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on KKR & Co. Inc. from $93.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from $107.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an outperform rating and issued a $104.00 price target on shares of KKR & Co. Inc. in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on KKR & Co. Inc. from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their target price on KKR & Co. Inc. from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a market outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $91.00.

KKR & Co. Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of KKR stock opened at $95.01 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $97.61 and its 200 day moving average is $84.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.30, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.62. KKR & Co. Inc. has a 12 month low of $47.79 and a 12 month high of $103.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82.

KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The asset manager reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.64 million. KKR & Co. Inc. had a return on equity of 4.45% and a net margin of 19.38%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that KKR & Co. Inc. will post 4.15 earnings per share for the current year.

KKR & Co. Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a $0.175 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. This is an increase from KKR & Co. Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. KKR & Co. Inc.’s payout ratio is currently 14.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Kkr Alternative Assets Llc bought 571,429 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $25.00 per share, with a total value of $14,285,725.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 1,000,687 shares in the company, valued at $25,017,175. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other KKR & Co. Inc. news, major shareholder Kkr Group Partnership L.P. sold 13,800,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.87, for a total transaction of $136,206,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Kkr Alternative Assets Llc purchased 571,429 shares of KKR & Co. Inc. stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were bought at an average price of $25.00 per share, for a total transaction of $14,285,725.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,000,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,017,175. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 39.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KKR. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in KKR & Co. Inc. by 219.5% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,206,904 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,342,742,000 after purchasing an additional 11,134,363 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at $649,798,000. Winslow Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. in the 4th quarter worth about $344,354,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,670,039 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,452,363,000 after acquiring an additional 1,728,782 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bain Capital Public Equity Management II LLC purchased a new position in KKR & Co. Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at about $68,286,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.26% of the company’s stock.

KKR & Co. Inc. Company Profile

KKR & Co Inc is a private equity and real estate investment firm specializing in direct and fund of fund investments. It specializes in acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, management buyouts, credit special situations, growth equity, mature, mezzanine, distressed, turnaround, lower middle market and middle market investments.