Handelsbanken Fonder AB Purchases 42,052 Shares of KKR & Co. Inc. $KKR

Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) by 17.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 278,803 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 42,052 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in KKR & Co. Inc. were worth $35,542,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in KKR. Covenant Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 1,424.8% during the third quarter. Covenant Asset Management LLC now owns 29,826 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,876,000 after buying an additional 27,870 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 5.2% during the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,313,857 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $170,736,000 after buying an additional 65,178 shares during the last quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd grew its stake in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 816.2% during the third quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 25,791 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,352,000 after buying an additional 22,976 shares during the last quarter. Banco Santander S.A. grew its stake in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 5,405.9% during the third quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 144,970 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $18,839,000 after buying an additional 142,337 shares during the last quarter. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG grew its stake in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 63.2% during the third quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 98,983 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $12,862,000 after buying an additional 38,322 shares during the last quarter. 76.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on KKR shares. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from $135.00 to $117.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of KKR & Co. Inc. in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Zacks Research cut shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from $125.00 to $106.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from $132.00 to $128.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.53.

KKR & Co. Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of KKR & Co. Inc. stock opened at $92.95 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. KKR & Co. Inc. has a twelve month low of $82.67 and a twelve month high of $153.87. The stock has a market cap of $83.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.62, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.85. The company’s fifty day moving average is $95.39 and its 200 day moving average is $110.42.

KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The asset manager reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter. KKR & Co. Inc. had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 5.42%. Sell-side analysts forecast that KKR & Co. Inc. will post 5.46 EPS for the current year.

KKR & Co. Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a $0.195 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. This is a positive change from KKR & Co. Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. This represents a $0.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. KKR & Co. Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.53%.

KKR & Co. Inc. declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 5th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the asset manager to buy up to 0.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at KKR & Co. Inc.

In other news, Director Timothy R. Barakett bought 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $94.47 per share, for a total transaction of $4,723,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 285,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,923,950. This represents a 21.28% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 23.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

KKR & Co. Inc. Profile

KKR & Co Inc is a global investment firm headquartered in New York City that specializes in private markets and alternative asset management. Founded in 1976 by Jerome Kohlberg Jr., Henry Kravis and George R. Roberts, the firm built its reputation in leveraged buyouts and has since expanded into a multi-strategy asset manager. KKR operates across private equity, credit, real assets (including real estate and infrastructure), growth equity and hedge fund strategies, offering a range of investment products and strategies for institutional and private investors.

KKR manages capital through traditional closed-end funds as well as customized vehicles such as separate accounts, co-investments, and listed investment vehicles.