Morgan Stanley Cuts KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) Price Target to $147.00

KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) had its price objective trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $153.00 to $147.00 in a research report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on KKR. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from $143.00 to $139.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from $122.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price target on KKR & Co. Inc. from $106.00 to $104.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KKR & Co. Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $128.08.

KKR & Co. Inc. Stock Performance

KKR & Co. Inc. stock opened at $96.03 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market cap of $86.22 billion, a PE ratio of 32.66, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.79. KKR & Co. Inc. has a 12-month low of $82.67 and a 12-month high of $153.87. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $95.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $100.45.

KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The asset manager reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter. KKR & Co. Inc. had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 5.42%. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter. As a group, analysts expect that KKR & Co. Inc. will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KKR & Co. Inc. announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, May 5th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the asset manager to purchase up to 0.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

KKR & Co. Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.195 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $0.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. This is a boost from KKR & Co. Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. KKR & Co. Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is 26.53%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KKR & Co. Inc. news, EVP Yael Cosset sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.80, for a total transaction of $1,764,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 127,868 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,518,638.40. The trade was a 19.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 23.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KKR & Co. Inc.

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of KKR. Norges Bank acquired a new position in KKR & Co. Inc. during the 4th quarter worth about $1,715,929,000. Viking Global Investors LP bought a new stake in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. in the 3rd quarter valued at about $352,038,000. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd increased its stake in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 164.4% in the first quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 3,522,797 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $325,859,000 after buying an additional 2,190,248 shares during the period. Farallon Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. during the fourth quarter worth about $257,216,000. Finally, Amundi raised its position in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 65.3% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 3,726,040 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $344,659,000 after acquiring an additional 1,472,265 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.26% of the company’s stock.

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.