Legal & General Group Plc Takes Position in KKR & Co. Inc. $KKR

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 5,129,423 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $470,778,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of KKR. Praxis Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in KKR & Co. Inc. by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Praxis Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,006 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,276,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN boosted its position in KKR & Co. Inc. by 3.8% during the first quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 2,622 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $243,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP grew its holdings in KKR & Co. Inc. by 34.8% in the first quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP now owns 387 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Wernau Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in KKR & Co. Inc. by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Wernau Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,877 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,006,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mission Wealth Management LP increased its holdings in KKR & Co. Inc. by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 20,567 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,622,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of KKR & Co. Inc. to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on KKR & Co. Inc. from $143.00 to $139.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on KKR & Co. Inc. from $153.00 to $147.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on KKR & Co. Inc. from $113.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $127.75.

KKR & Co. Inc. Stock Performance

NYSE:KKR opened at $107.66 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $100.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $97.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.09 and a quick ratio of 0.09. The firm has a market cap of $96.64 billion, a PE ratio of 34.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.78. KKR & Co. Inc. has a 1-year low of $82.67 and a 1-year high of $152.10.

KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The asset manager reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.20. KKR & Co. Inc. had a net margin of 14.41% and a return on equity of 5.88%. The business had revenue of $5.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.18 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that KKR & Co. Inc. will post 5.68 EPS for the current year.

KKR & Co. Inc. Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 10th were paid a dividend of $0.195 per share. This represents a $0.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 10th. KKR & Co. Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.84%.

KKR & Co. Inc. announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, May 5th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the asset manager to buy up to 0.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

KKR & Co. Inc. Company 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.