Merit Financial Group LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR)

Merit Financial Group LLC lowered its stake in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR - Free Report) by 16.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,226 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 4,487 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in KKR & Co. Inc. were worth $2,570,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of KKR. Norges Bank purchased a new position in KKR & Co. Inc. during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,435,314,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 106.2% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,584,370 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $973,894,000 after acquiring an additional 3,391,581 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at $325,752,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 4,981.9% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,573,046 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $232,669,000 after acquiring an additional 1,542,092 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in KKR & Co. Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at about $218,918,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.26% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Henry R. Kravis sold 1,150,469 shares of KKR & Co. Inc. stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.80, for a total value of $137,826,186.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 73,006,022 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,746,121,435.60. The trade was a 1.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman George R. Roberts sold 1,190,094 shares of KKR & Co. Inc. stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 82,171,884 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,844,191,703.20. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,471,488 shares of company stock valued at $501,529,092 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 39.34% of the company's stock.

KKR & Co. Inc. Price Performance

Shares of KKR stock opened at $120.62 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $107.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.91. 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. has a 1-year low of $86.15 and a 1-year high of $170.40. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $113.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $133.11.

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

KKR & Co. Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This is a positive change from KKR & Co. Inc.'s previous dividend of $0.17. This represents a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 12th. KKR & Co. Inc.'s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KKR has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on KKR & Co. Inc. from $136.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. HSBC raised KKR & Co. Inc. from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $170.00 to $119.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley raised KKR & Co. Inc. from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $120.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Hsbc Global Res raised KKR & Co. Inc. from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on KKR & Co. Inc. from $129.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, KKR & Co. Inc. presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $149.43.

KKR & Co. Inc. Company Profile

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.

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