Traders Purchase Large Volume of KKR & Co. Inc. Call Options (NYSE:KKR)

KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Traders acquired 19,916 call options on the company. This is an increase of 282% compared to the typical daily volume of 5,209 call options.

KKR & Co. Inc. Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of KKR opened at $95.01 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The business has a fifty day moving average of $97.61 and a 200 day moving average of $84.30. The company has a market cap of $84.08 billion, a PE ratio of 21.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.62. KKR & Co. Inc. has a 52-week low of $47.79 and a 52-week high of $103.48.

KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The asset manager reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.64 million. KKR & Co. Inc. had a net margin of 19.38% and a return on equity of 4.45%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that KKR & Co. Inc. will post 4.15 EPS for the current year.

KKR & Co. Inc. Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.175 per share. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This is a positive change from KKR & Co. Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. KKR & Co. Inc.’s payout ratio is 14.80%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Kkr Alternative Assets Llc bought 286,402 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $24.94 per share, for a total transaction of $7,142,865.88. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 429,259 shares in the company, valued at $10,705,719.46. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Kkr Alternative Assets Llc bought 286,402 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $24.94 per share, with a total value of $7,142,865.88. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 429,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,705,719.46. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Kkr Group Partnership L.P. sold 13,800,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.87, for a total value of $136,206,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 39.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in KKR & Co. Inc. by 219.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,206,904 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,342,742,000 after acquiring an additional 11,134,363 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. in the fourth quarter worth about $649,798,000. Winslow Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in KKR & Co. Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at about $344,354,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in KKR & Co. Inc. by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,670,039 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,452,363,000 after buying an additional 1,728,782 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bain Capital Public Equity Management II LLC purchased a new stake in KKR & Co. Inc. in the 4th quarter valued at about $68,286,000. Institutional investors own 76.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $104.00 price objective on shares of KKR & Co. Inc. in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from $93.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays raised their price objective on KKR & Co. Inc. from $113.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded KKR & Co. Inc. from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KKR & Co. Inc. presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.00.

KKR & Co. Inc. Company Profile

KKR & Co Inc is a private equity and real estate investment firm specializing in direct and fund of fund investments. It specializes in acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, management buyouts, credit special situations, growth equity, mature, mezzanine, distressed, turnaround, lower middle market and middle market investments.