KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) shares hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $161.53 and last traded at $161.27, with a volume of 3210581 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $158.94.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from $166.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on KKR & Co. Inc. from $128.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. JMP Securities lifted their price target on KKR & Co. Inc. from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on KKR & Co. Inc. from $107.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on KKR & Co. Inc. in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set a “buy” rating and a $153.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $154.14.

KKR & Co. Inc. Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $142.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $142.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $122.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.07 and a quick ratio of 0.07.

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

KKR & Co. Inc. Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 19th. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a $0.175 dividend. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. KKR & Co. Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KKR & Co. Inc.

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 33.5% during the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 65,432 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $6,886,000 after purchasing an additional 16,424 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in KKR & Co. Inc. by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 57,886 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,559,000 after buying an additional 4,719 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd increased its stake in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 116.8% during the second quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 29,619 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,117,000 after buying an additional 15,959 shares during the period. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 42.1% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,136 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,976,000 after buying an additional 4,481 shares during the period. Finally, Caldwell Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 3.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.