Independent Financial Group LLC Acquires Shares of 9,194 KKR & Co. Inc. $KKR

Independent Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 9,194 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $850,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in KKR & Co. Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at $1,715,929,000. Viking Global Investors LP bought a new position in KKR & Co. Inc. during the third quarter worth $352,038,000. Farallon Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at $257,216,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 41.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,401,951 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $561,161,000 after purchasing an additional 1,295,099 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 6.9% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 19,507,741 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,804,470,000 after purchasing an additional 1,261,314 shares during the last quarter. 76.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KKR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from $135.00 to $117.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from $143.00 to $139.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 17th. HSBC boosted their price objective on KKR & Co. Inc. from $118.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on KKR & Co. Inc. from $122.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $128.08.

KKR & Co. Inc. Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of KKR & Co. Inc. stock opened at $97.04 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $95.37 and a 200-day moving average of $100.90. KKR & Co. Inc. has a 52-week low of $82.67 and a 52-week high of $153.87. The stock has a market cap of $87.13 billion, a PE ratio of 33.01, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.79.

KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The asset manager reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter. KKR & Co. Inc. had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 5.42%. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that KKR & Co. Inc. will post 5.54 EPS for the current year.

KKR & Co. Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $0.195 per share. This is a boost from KKR & Co. Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. KKR & Co. Inc.’s payout ratio is 26.53%.

KKR & Co. Inc. declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, May 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the asset manager to reacquire up to 0.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at KKR & Co. Inc.

In other news, EVP Yael Cosset sold 30,000 shares of KKR & Co. Inc. stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.80, for a total value of $1,764,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 127,868 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,518,638.40. The trade was a 19.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 23.20% of the company’s stock.

About KKR & Co. Inc.

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.