KKR & Co. Inc. $KKR Shares Sold by Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd

Key Points

• Swiss Life Asset Management cut its KKR stake by 62.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 93,427 shares and leaving it with 55,116 shares valued at about $7.0 million.
• KKR insiders were buying: CEO Scott C. Nuttall and CEO Joseph Y. Bae each purchased 125,000 shares in February, and insiders bought a total of 343,872 shares over the last three months.
• KKR announced shareholder-friendly actions, including a new $500 million share repurchase authorization and a slightly higher quarterly dividend of $0.195 per share, while analysts currently view the stock as a “Moderate Buy.”

Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd lowered its stake in KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR - Free Report) by 62.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 55,116 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 93,427 shares during the period. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd's holdings in KKR & Co. Inc. were worth $7,026,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. ESL Trust Services LLC acquired a new stake in KKR & Co. Inc. during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Asset Dedication LLC acquired a new position in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. GGM Financials LLC purchased a new position in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 2,150.0% during the third quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 225 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the period. 76.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Scott C. Nuttall acquired 125,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $102.66 per share, for a total transaction of $12,832,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 15,503,748 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,591,614,769.68. The trade was a 0.81% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Joseph Y. Bae bought 125,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $102.19 per share, for a total transaction of $12,773,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 509,257 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,040,972.83. This trade represents a 32.53% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders purchased a total of 343,872 shares of company stock worth $34,844,179 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 23.20% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on KKR shares. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on KKR & Co. Inc. from $135.00 to $117.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. HSBC upgraded shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $144.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from $125.00 to $106.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, January 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $134.67.

KKR & Co. Inc. Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of KKR stock opened at $97.55 on Thursday. KKR & Co. Inc. has a twelve month low of $82.67 and a twelve month high of $153.87. The stock has a market cap of $87.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.18, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.85. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $95.10 and a 200 day moving average of $111.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 27th. The asset manager reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter. KKR & Co. Inc. had a return on equity of 5.42% and a net margin of 13.94%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that KKR & Co. Inc. will post 5.4 EPS for the current year.

KKR & Co. Inc. announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the asset manager to buy up to 0.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

KKR & Co. Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a $0.195 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This is a positive change from KKR & Co. Inc.'s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. This represents a $0.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. KKR & Co. Inc.'s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.17%.

About KKR & Co. Inc.

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.

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