Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of KKR & Co. Inc. Put Options (NYSE:KKR)

KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Investors acquired 16,250 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 49% compared to the average daily volume of 10,919 put options.

Insider Activity at KKR & Co. Inc.

In related news, CEO Scott C. Nuttall acquired 125,000 shares of KKR & Co. Inc. stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,503,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,591,614,769.68. This trade represents a 0.81% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Joseph Y. Bae acquired 125,000 shares of KKR & Co. Inc. stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were bought at an average price of $102.19 per share, with a total value of $12,773,750.00. Following 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 393,872 shares of company stock valued at $40,090,679 in the last 90 days. 23.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KKR & Co. Inc.

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of KKR. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,064,587 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,657,034,000 after purchasing an additional 821,739 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in KKR & Co. Inc. by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 19,507,741 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,804,470,000 after purchasing an additional 1,261,314 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,995,742 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,903,220,000 after buying an additional 146,285 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. in the fourth quarter worth $1,715,929,000. Finally, First Manhattan CO. LLC. raised its position in KKR & Co. Inc. by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 8,597,044 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,095,951,000 after buying an additional 67,441 shares during the period. 76.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KKR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from $113.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen increased their price target on KKR & Co. Inc. from $102.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on KKR & Co. Inc. from $177.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on KKR & Co. Inc. from $135.00 to $117.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of KKR & Co. Inc. in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.67.

KKR & Co. Inc. Price Performance

Shares of KKR traded up $1.57 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $101.91. The stock had a trading volume of 1,005,351 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,827,254. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $94.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $111.73. KKR & Co. Inc. has a 52 week low of $82.67 and a 52 week high of $153.87. The company has a market capitalization of $90.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.66, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.07 and a quick ratio of 0.07.

KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The asset manager reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. KKR & Co. Inc. had a return on equity of 5.50% and a net margin of 13.94%.The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter. On average, analysts forecast that KKR & Co. Inc. will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KKR & Co. Inc. declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback 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 reacquire up to 0.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

KKR & Co. Inc. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This is an increase from KKR & Co. Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. This represents a $0.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. KKR & Co. Inc.’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.53%.

KKR & Co. Inc. Company Profile

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.