Westfield Capital Management Co. LP Cuts Position in KKR & Co. Inc. $KKR

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP reduced its position in KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) by 18.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 546,499 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 126,396 shares during the quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP owned about 0.06% of KKR & Co. Inc. worth $69,668,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of KKR. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,715,929,000. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. in the third quarter valued at approximately $535,907,000. Viking Global Investors LP acquired a new stake in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. in the third quarter valued at approximately $352,038,000. Close Asset Management Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 4,155.1% in the third quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,515,299 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $196,845,000 after acquiring an additional 1,479,688 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of KKR & Co. Inc. by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,064,587 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $7,657,034,000 after acquiring an additional 821,739 shares during the period. 76.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on KKR shares. Oppenheimer cut their price target on KKR & Co. Inc. from $187.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 13th. TD Cowen cut 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. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on KKR & Co. Inc. from $125.00 to $106.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Weiss Ratings cut KKR & Co. Inc. from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on KKR & Co. Inc. from $113.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, KKR & Co. Inc. presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.53.

KKR & Co. Inc. Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of NYSE:KKR opened at $93.51 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $83.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.81, a PEG ratio of 0.83 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 company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $96.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $108.17.

KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 27th. The asset manager reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter. KKR & Co. Inc. had a return on equity of 5.42% and a net margin of 13.94%. On average, research analysts forecast that KKR & Co. Inc. will post 5.51 EPS for the current year.

KKR & Co. Inc. declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, May 5th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the asset manager to buy up to 0.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

KKR & Co. Inc. Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were given a $0.195 dividend. This represents a $0.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. This is a positive change from KKR & Co. Inc.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. KKR & Co. Inc.’s payout ratio is 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.