Reviewing BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) & KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR)

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK – Get Free Report) and KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR – Get Free Report) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, earnings, risk and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for BlackRock and KKR & Co. Inc., as reported by MarketBeat.com.

BlackRock currently has a consensus price target of $1,311.06, indicating a potential upside of 23.48%. KKR & Co. Inc. has a consensus price target of $130.00, indicating a potential upside of 33.92%. Given KKR & Co. Inc.’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe KKR & Co. Inc. is more favorable than BlackRock.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

80.7% of BlackRock shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.3% of KKR & Co. Inc. shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.9% of BlackRock shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 23.2% of KKR & Co. Inc. shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

BlackRock pays an annual dividend of $22.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. KKR & Co. Inc. pays an annual dividend of $0.78 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. BlackRock pays out 54.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. KKR & Co. Inc. pays out 24.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. BlackRock has raised its dividend for 16 consecutive years and KKR & Co. Inc. has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years. BlackRock is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares BlackRock and KKR & Co. Inc.’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Volatility & Risk

BlackRock has a beta of 1.41, indicating that its stock price is 41% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, KKR & Co. Inc. has a beta of 1.79, indicating that its stock price is 79% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares BlackRock and KKR & Co. Inc.”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

BlackRock has higher revenue and earnings than KKR & Co. Inc.. BlackRock is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than KKR & Co. Inc., indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

BlackRock beats KKR & Co. Inc. on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BlackRock

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BlackRock, Inc. is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to institutional, intermediary, and individual investors including corporate, public, union, and industry pension plans, insurance companies, third-party mutual funds, endowments, public institutions, governments, foundations, charities, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, official institutions, and banks. It also provides global risk management and advisory services. The firm manages separate client-focused equity, fixed income, and balanced portfolios. It also launches and manages open-end and closed-end mutual funds, offshore funds, unit trusts, and alternative investment vehicles including structured funds. The firm launches equity, fixed income, balanced, and real estate mutual funds. It also launches equity, fixed income, balanced, currency, commodity, and multi-asset exchange traded funds. The firm also launches and manages hedge funds. It invests in the public equity, fixed income, real estate, currency, commodity, and alternative markets across the globe. The firm primarily invests in growth and value stocks of small-cap, mid-cap, SMID-cap, large-cap, and multi-cap companies. It also invests in dividend-paying equity securities. The firm invests in investment grade municipal securities, government securities including securities issued or guaranteed by a government or a government agency or instrumentality, corporate bonds, and asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities. It employs fundamental and quantitative analysis with a focus on bottom-up and top-down approach to make its investments. The firm employs liquidity, asset allocation, balanced, real estate, and alternative strategies to make its investments. In real estate sector, it seeks to invest in Poland and Germany. The firm benchmarks the performance of its portfolios against various S&P, Russell, Barclays, MSCI, Citigroup, and Merrill Lynch indices. BlackRock, Inc. was founded in 1988 and is based in New York City with additional offices in Boston, Massachusetts; London, United Kingdom; Gurgaon, India; Hong Kong; Greenwich, Connecticut; Princeton, New Jersey; Edinburgh, United Kingdom; Sydney, Australia; Taipei, Taiwan; Singapore; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Washington, District of Columbia; Toronto, Canada; Wilmington, Delaware; and San Francisco, California.

About KKR & Co. Inc.

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KKR & Co., Inc. operates as an investment firm. It offers alternative asset management as well as capital markets and insurance solutions. The firm’s business segments include Asset Management and Insurance Business. The Asset Management segment engages in providing private equity, real assets, credit and liquid strategies, capital markets, and principal activities. The Insurance Business segment offers retirement, life insurance and reinsurance solutions to clients across individual and institutional markets. The company was founded by Henry Kravis, George R. Roberts, and Jerome Kholberg on May 1, 1976 and is headquartered in New York, NY.