Simmons Bank Raises Stake in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Simmons Bank grew its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 47.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,400 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,900 shares during the quarter. Simmons Bank’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $366,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 3,655.3% in the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 1,427 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,389 shares during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in Kinder Morgan in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Kinder Morgan in the first quarter worth about $30,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Kinder Morgan in the first quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Kinder Morgan in the first quarter worth about $31,000. 62.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

NYSE KMI traded down $0.06 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $21.33. The stock had a trading volume of 8,163,491 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,925,197. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $20.61 and a 200 day moving average of $19.18. The stock has a market cap of $47.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.93. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 52-week low of $15.89 and a 52-week high of $21.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a current ratio of 0.37.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The pipeline company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $3.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.13 billion. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 15.93% and a return on equity of 7.89%. Kinder Morgan’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.24 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st were given a $0.2875 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.39%. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 104.55%.

Insider Activity at Kinder Morgan

In related news, VP Sital K. Mody sold 21,413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.25, for a total value of $455,026.25. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 25,169 shares in the company, valued at $534,841.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Kinder Morgan news, VP Sital K. Mody sold 21,413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.25, for a total value of $455,026.25. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 25,169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $534,841.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.01, for a total value of $2,101,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 916,773 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,261,400.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,311 shares of company stock worth $3,121,891 over the last quarter. Insiders own 12.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on KMI. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Tudor Pickering upgraded shares of Kinder Morgan to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kinder Morgan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.20.

About Kinder Morgan

Kinder Morgan, Inc operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in North America. The company operates through Natural Gas Pipelines, Products Pipelines, Terminals, and CO2 segments. The Natural Gas Pipelines segment owns and operates interstate and intrastate natural gas pipeline, and storage systems; natural gas gathering systems and natural gas processing and treating facilities; natural gas liquids fractionation facilities and transportation systems; and liquefied natural gas gasification, liquefaction, and storage facilities.