MetLife Investment Management LLC Cuts Stock Position in KKR & Co. Inc. $KKR

Key Points

• MetLife Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in KKR & Co. Inc. by 1.8%, holding 183,749 shares worth approximately $21.24 million after selling 3,446 shares in the recent quarter.
• In contrast, Vanguard Group increased its position by 1.5%, now owning 57.56 million shares valued at over $6.65 billion, highlighting ongoing institutional interest in the asset manager.
• KKR recently reported earnings of $1.18 per share, exceeding analyst estimates, and announced a slight increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.185, reflecting positive financial performance.

MetLife Investment Management LLC lowered its position in KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR - Free Report) by 1.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 183,749 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 3,446 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC's holdings in KKR & Co. Inc. were worth $21,243,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 1.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,557,692 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $6,654,245,000 after buying an additional 870,176 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 14.3% in the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 19,081,760 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $2,206,042,000 after buying an additional 2,391,434 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. in the first quarter valued at $844,137,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 106.2% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,584,370 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $973,894,000 after buying an additional 3,391,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,150,636 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $909,741,000 after buying an additional 600,696 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.26% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KKR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res lowered KKR & Co. Inc. from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on KKR & Co. Inc. from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen raised KKR & Co. Inc. from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised KKR & Co. Inc. from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $120.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on KKR & Co. Inc. from $140.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, KKR & Co. Inc. presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $157.73.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman George R. Roberts sold 1,190,094 shares of KKR & Co. Inc. stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.80, for a total value of $142,573,261.20. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 82,171,884 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,844,191,703.20. The trade was a 1.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 directly owned 73,006,022 shares in the company, valued at $8,746,121,435.60. This represents a 1.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,281,394 shares of company stock worth $413,158,033 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 39.34% of the company's stock.

KKR & Co. Inc. Stock Up 2.8%

Shares of NYSE:KKR opened at $141.6710 on Monday. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $139.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $126.18. 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 12-month low of $86.15 and a 12-month high of $170.40. The firm has a market cap of $126.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.89, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.87.

KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The asset manager reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.81 billion. KKR & Co. Inc. had a return on equity of 6.30% and a net margin of 12.95%.During the same period last year, the company earned $1.09 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that KKR & Co. Inc. will post 5.19 EPS for the current year.

KKR & Co. Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th will be paid a $0.185 dividend. This is a positive change from KKR & Co. Inc.'s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.74 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. KKR & Co. Inc.'s payout ratio is currently 34.42%.

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.

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