KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) Reaches New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Shares of KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $157.06 and last traded at $156.96, with a volume of 1688653 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $152.18.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on KKR & Co. Inc. from $107.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Citigroup increased their price objective on KKR & Co. Inc. from $157.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays increased their price objective on KKR & Co. Inc. from $149.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com upgraded KKR & Co. Inc. to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded KKR & Co. Inc. to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $154.14.

KKR & Co. Inc. Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average price of $139.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $121.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.07 and a current ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $140.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.61.

KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The asset manager reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $4.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. KKR & Co. Inc. had a return on equity of 5.77% and a net margin of 13.21%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.73 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that KKR & Co. Inc. will post 4.16 earnings per share for the current year.

KKR & Co. Inc. Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 19th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a dividend of $0.175 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. KKR & Co. Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KKR & Co. Inc. news, major shareholder Genetic Disorder L.P. Kkr sold 5,800,000 shares of KKR & Co. Inc. stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.75, for a total value of $149,350,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 25,260,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $650,470,003.25. This trade represents a 18.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Kkr Group Partnership L.P. purchased 11,619,998 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $11.13 per share, for a total transaction of $129,330,577.74. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 92,959,984 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,034,644,621.92. This trade represents a 14.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 39.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of KKR & Co. Inc.

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 33.5% in the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 65,432 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,886,000 after purchasing an additional 16,424 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd increased its position in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 116.8% in the second quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 29,619 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,117,000 after acquiring an additional 15,959 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 100.7% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 20,055 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,017,000 after acquiring an additional 10,060 shares during the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 42.1% in the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,136 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,976,000 after acquiring an additional 4,481 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caldwell Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 3.3% in the third quarter. Caldwell Investment Management Ltd. now owns 206,500 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $27,273,000 after acquiring an additional 6,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.