Zacks Research Downgrades KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) to Strong Sell

KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) was downgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from $125.00 to $106.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 25th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $146.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of KKR & Co. Inc. from $168.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $138.07.

KKR & Co. Inc. Stock Up 2.4%

KKR & Co. Inc. stock traded up $2.44 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $102.87. 1,302,478 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,345,095. KKR & Co. Inc. has a 1 year low of $82.67 and a 1 year high of $153.87. The firm has a market cap of $91.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.07 and a quick ratio of 0.07. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $94.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $114.06.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Joseph Y. Bae bought 125,000 shares of KKR & Co. Inc. stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $102.19 per share, with a total value of $12,773,750.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 509,257 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,040,972.83. This trade represents a 32.53% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Matt Cohler bought 43,872 shares of KKR & Co. Inc. stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $102.90 per share, with a total value of $4,514,428.80. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 45,477 shares in the company, valued at $4,679,583.30. This trade represents a 2,733.46% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders bought 393,872 shares of company stock valued at $40,090,679. Company insiders own 23.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in KKR & Co. Inc. by 1.4% during 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. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in KKR & Co. Inc. by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,995,742 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,903,220,000 after purchasing an additional 146,285 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in KKR & Co. Inc. during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,715,929,000. First Manhattan CO. LLC. boosted its stake in KKR & Co. Inc. by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 8,597,044 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,095,951,000 after purchasing an additional 67,441 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in KKR & Co. Inc. by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,602,262 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $714,195,000 after purchasing an additional 23,483 shares during the period. 76.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.