LPL Financial LLC Cuts Stock Position in KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR)

Key Points

• LPL Financial LLC reduced its stake in KKR & Co. Inc. by 6.5%, selling 45,550 shares during the first quarter, bringing their total ownership to 656,650 shares valued at approximately $75.9 million.
• KKR recently increased its dividend to $0.185 per share, which represents a 0.64% yield, up from the previous dividend of $0.17.
• As of now, institutional investors hold 76.26% of KKR's stock, reflecting strong institutional interest and ongoing activity from other hedge funds in the market.

LPL Financial LLC reduced its position in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR - Free Report) by 6.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 656,650 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 45,550 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned 0.07% of KKR & Co. Inc. worth $75,915,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 109.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,661 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $689,000 after purchasing an additional 2,437 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in KKR & Co. Inc. by 104.7% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 56,423 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $8,346,000 after purchasing an additional 28,862 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its holdings in KKR & Co. Inc. by 19.5% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 80,086 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $11,884,000 after purchasing an additional 13,065 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its position in KKR & Co. Inc. by 14.2% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 22,331 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $3,310,000 after purchasing an additional 2,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 29.2% during the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 42,703 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $6,316,000 after purchasing an additional 9,657 shares during the period. 76.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Genetic Disorder L.P. Kkr sold 6,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were 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 directly owned 13,260,971 shares in the company, valued at approximately $453,525,208.20. This represents a 31.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman George R. Roberts sold 1,190,094 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.80, for a total transaction of $142,573,261.20. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 82,171,884 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,844,191,703.20. The trade was a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,471,488 shares of company stock worth $501,529,092. 39.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on KKR. Citigroup lifted their target price on KKR & Co. Inc. from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on KKR & Co. Inc. from $129.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. HSBC cut KKR & Co. Inc. from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $142.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from $149.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $155.00.

KKR & Co. Inc. Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:KKR traded down $4.00 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $142.58. The company had a trading volume of 5,750,296 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,339,840. The stock has a market cap of $126.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.87. The company's 50 day moving average price is $133.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $128.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. KKR & Co. Inc. has a 52-week low of $86.15 and a 52-week high of $170.40.

KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The asset manager reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.04. KKR & Co. Inc. had a return on equity of 6.42% and a net margin of 12.95%. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.81 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.09 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that KKR & Co. Inc. will post 5.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KKR & Co. Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th will be paid a $0.185 dividend. This represents a $0.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. This is a boost from KKR & Co. Inc.'s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. KKR & Co. Inc.'s payout ratio is currently 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.