KKR & Co. Inc. $KKR Stock Position Boosted by First Manhattan CO. LLC.

First Manhattan CO. LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,597,044 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 67,441 shares during the period. KKR & Co. Inc. accounts for about 2.9% of First Manhattan CO. LLC.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. First Manhattan CO. LLC. owned approximately 0.96% of KKR & Co. Inc. worth $1,095,951,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of KKR. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,715,929,000. Strive Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. during the third quarter worth approximately $535,907,000. Viking Global Investors LP purchased a new position in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. during the third quarter worth approximately $352,038,000. Farallon Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. during the fourth quarter worth approximately $257,216,000. Finally, Close Asset Management Ltd grew its position in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 4,155.1% during the third quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,515,299 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $196,845,000 after acquiring an additional 1,479,688 shares during the last quarter. 76.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

KKR & Co. Inc. Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of KKR stock opened at $97.17 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $97.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $106.89. KKR & Co. Inc. has a twelve month low of $82.67 and a twelve month high of $153.87. The company has a market capitalization of $87.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.05, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The asset manager reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter. KKR & Co. Inc. had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 5.42%. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter. Research analysts forecast that KKR & Co. Inc. will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KKR & Co. Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a $0.195 dividend. This is a positive change from KKR & Co. Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. 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. announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 5th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the asset manager to reacquire up to 0.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KKR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from $187.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Barclays cut their price target on KKR & Co. Inc. from $127.00 to $122.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on KKR & Co. Inc. from $145.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on KKR & Co. Inc. from $177.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Zacks Research raised KKR & Co. Inc. from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.53.

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.