Employees Retirement System of Texas Invests $1.91 Million in KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR)

Employees Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 12,879 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $1,905,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. increased its holdings in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 430 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,427 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,430,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its holdings in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,289 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $191,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,918 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $580,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. Finally, Mather Group LLC. raised its stake in KKR & Co. Inc. by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 1,064 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $157,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. 76.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Genetic Disorder L.P. Kkr sold 6,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.20, for a total transaction of $205,200,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,260,971 shares of the company's stock, valued at $453,525,208.20. This trade represents a 31.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Timothy R. Barakett acquired 35,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $117.92 per share, for a total transaction of $4,127,200.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 185,000 shares in the company, valued at $21,815,200. This trade represents a 23.33% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 39.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KKR has been the topic of a number of research reports. JMP Securities cut their price objective on KKR & Co. Inc. from $165.00 to $150.00 and set a "market outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from $129.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from $136.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from $129.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $170.00 to $119.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $149.43.

KKR & Co. Inc. Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of KKR traded up $0.13 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $121.05. The company had a trading volume of 2,934,964 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,019,488. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $113.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $134.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market cap of $107.81 billion, a PE ratio of 36.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.91. KKR & Co. Inc. has a 1-year low of $86.15 and a 1-year high of $170.40.

KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The asset manager reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.71 billion. KKR & Co. Inc. had a return on equity of 6.20% and a net margin of 14.31%. The firm's revenue was down 67.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that KKR & Co. Inc. will post 5.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KKR & Co. Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.185 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is a positive change from KKR & Co. Inc.'s previous dividend of $0.17. This represents a yield of 0.64%. KKR & Co. Inc.'s dividend payout ratio is 31.22%.

About KKR & Co. Inc.

KKR & Co, Inc operates as an investment firm. It offers alternative asset management as well as capital markets and insurance solutions. The firm's business segments include Asset Management and Insurance Business. The Asset Management segment engages in providing private equity, real assets, credit and liquid strategies, capital markets, and principal activities.