Item 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES.
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Item 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES.
Shares of our Class A common stock are listed on the NYSE under the symbol "KKR."
The number of holders of record of our Class A common stock as of February 10, 2020 was 24. This does not include the number of stockholders that hold shares in "street-name" through banks or broker-dealers.
Dividend Policy
Under our current dividend policy for Class A common stock, we expect to pay our Class A common stockholders an annualized dividend of $0.54 per share of Class A common stock, equal to a quarterly dividend of $0.135 per share of Class A common stock, beginning with any dividend announced with respect to the first quarter of 2020. On January 31, 2020, we declared a regular dividend of $0.125 per share of Class A common stock under our prior dividend policy for the quarter ended December 31, 2019.
Because we make our investment in our business through a holding company structure and the applicable holding companies do not own any material cash-generating assets other than their direct and indirect holdings in KKR Group Partnership Units, dividends are expected to be funded in the following manner:
| • | First, the KKR Group Partnership will make distributions to holders of KKR Group Partnership Units, including the holding companies through which we invest, in proportion to their percentage interests in the KKR Group Partnerships; |
| • | Second, the holding companies through which we invest will distribute to us the amount of any distributions that they receive from the KKR Group Partnership, after deducting any applicable taxes; and |
| • | Third, we will distribute to holders of our Class A common stock, Series A Preferred Stock and Series B Preferred Stock the amount of dividends declared by our board of directors from the distributions that we receive from our holding companies through which we invest. |
The limited partnership agreement of the KKR Group Partnership provides for cash distributions, which are referred to as "tax distributions," to the partners of the partnership if we determine that the taxable income of the partnership will give rise to taxable income for its partners, including indirectly KKR Holdings. The KKR Group Partnership may make tax distributions in the future, from time to time, to provide distributions to pay for the U.S. or non-U.S. tax liabilities of the partners of KKR Holdings.
The declaration and payment of any dividends to holders of our Class A common stock, Series A Preferred Stock or Series B Preferred Stock are subject to the discretion of our board of directors, which may change our dividend policy at any time or from time to time, and the terms of our certificate of incorporation. There can be no assurance that dividends will be made as intended or at all or that any particular dividend policy will be maintained. When KKR & Co. Inc. receives distributions from the KKR Group Partnership (the holding company of the KKR business), KKR Holdings receives its pro rata share of such distributions from the KKR Group Partnership. Furthermore, the declaration and payment of distributions and dividends is subject to legal, contractual and regulatory restrictions on the payment of dividends and distributions by us or our subsidiaries, including restrictions contained in our debt agreements, the terms of our preferred stock, and such other factors as the board of directors considers relevant including, among others: our available cash and current and anticipated cash needs, including funding of investment commitments and debt service and future debt repayment obligations; general economic and business conditions; our strategic plans and prospects; our results of operations and financial condition; and our capital requirements. See "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity—Sources of Cash." In addition, under Section 170 of the DGCL, our board of directors may only declare and pay dividends either out of our surplus (as defined in DGCL) or in case there is no such surplus, out of our net profits for the fiscal year in which the dividend is declared and/or the preceding fiscal year.
Class A Common Stock Repurchases in the Fourth Quarter of 2019
Under our current repurchase program, KKR is authorized to repurchase its Class A common stock from time to time in open market transactions, in privately negotiated transactions or otherwise. The timing, manner, price and amount of any Class A common stock repurchases will be determined by KKR in its discretion and will depend on a variety of factors, including legal requirements, price and economic and market conditions. KKR expects that the program, which has no expiration date, will be in effect until the maximum approved dollar amount has been used. The program does not require KKR to repurchase any specific number of shares of Class A common stock, and the program may be suspended, extended, modified or discontinued at any time.
In addition to the repurchases of Class A common stock described above, subsequent to May 3, 2018, the repurchase program will be used for the retirement (by cash settlement or the payment of tax withholding amounts upon net settlement) of equity awards issued pursuant to our Equity Incentive Plans representing the right to receive shares of Class A common stock. From October 27, 2015 through December 31, 2019, KKR has paid approximately $327 million in cash to satisfy tax withholding and cash settlement obligations in lieu of issuing shares of Class A common stock or its equivalent upon the vesting of equity awards representing 16.3 million shares of Class A common stock. Of these amounts, equity awards representing 11.0 million shares of Class A common stock or its equivalent were retired for $190 million prior to May 3, 2018 and did not count against the amounts remaining under the repurchase program.
The table below sets forth the information with respect to repurchases made by or on behalf of KKR & Co. Inc. or any "affiliated purchaser" (as defined in Rule 10b-18(a)(3) under the Exchange Act) of our Class A common stock during the fourth quarter of 2019. 1,489,163 shares of Class A common stock were repurchased during the fourth quarter of 2019 and 1,396,907 equity awards were retired during the fourth quarter of 2019. From inception of the repurchase program through December 31, 2019, we have repurchased or retired a total of approximately 47.4 million shares of Class A common stock under the program at an average price of approximately $17.73 per share.
| Issuer Purchases of Class A common stock | |||||||||||||
| (amounts in thousands, except share and per share amounts) | |||||||||||||
| Total Number of Shares Purchased | Average Price Paid Per Share | Cumulative Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs | Approximate Dollar Value of Shares that May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs (1) | ||||||||||
| Month #1 (October 1, 2019 to October 31, 2019) | — | $ | — | 40,585,002 | $ | 446,605 | |||||||
| Month #2 (November 1, 2019 to November 30, 2019) | — | $ | — | 40,585,002 | $ | 446,605 | |||||||
| Month #3 (December 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019) | 1,489,163 | $ | 29.25 | 42,074,165 | $ | 365,540 | |||||||
| 1,489,163 | |||||||||||||
| (1) Amounts have been reduced by retirements of equity awards occurring after May 3, 2018. |
Unregistered Sale of Equity Securities
On November 22, 2019, KKR acquired an additional 5.0% interest in Marshall Wace after the exercise of the final remaining options agreed to between Marshall Wace and KKR. As partial consideration, KKR issued 5,674,251 shares of Class A common stock to affiliates of Marshall Wace in a private transaction exempt from registration in reliance on Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act. For a further discussion of the transaction, see Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Note 4 "Investments—Equity Method."
Other Equity Securities
During the fourth quarter of 2019, 5,364,802 KKR Group Partnership Units were exchanged by KKR Holdings for an equal number of shares of our Class A common stock. This resulted in an increase in our ownership of the KKR Group
Partnerships and a corresponding decrease in the ownership of the KKR Group Partnerships by KKR Holdings. On February 12, 2020, approximately 3.9 million KKR Group Partnership Units were exchanged by KKR Holdings into an equal number of shares of our Class A common stock.
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