Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Eight equities research 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. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $22.55.

Several brokerages recently commented on KMI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays boosted their price target on Kinder Morgan from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Kinder Morgan from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $18.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Kinder Morgan from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Kinder Morgan from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kinder Morgan news, VP Sital K. Mody sold 21,413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $534,841.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, VP Dax Sanders sold 1,729 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.00, for a total transaction of $36,309.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 307,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,455,589. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Sital K. Mody sold 21,413 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.25, for a total value of $455,026.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 25,169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $534,841.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 148,311 shares of company stock worth $3,121,891. 12.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kinder Morgan

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 67.7% during the 2nd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 9,151 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $182,000 after purchasing an additional 3,694 shares during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in Kinder Morgan by 32.7% during the second quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 10,534 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $209,000 after buying an additional 2,595 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Kinder Morgan during the second quarter worth approximately $8,597,000. RiverFront Investment Group LLC increased its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 6.3% in the second quarter. RiverFront Investment Group LLC now owns 31,561 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $627,000 after acquiring an additional 1,858 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 1,428,295 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $28,380,000 after acquiring an additional 8,078 shares in the last quarter. 62.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Kinder Morgan Price Performance

Shares of KMI opened at $21.68 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.12 billion, a PE ratio of 19.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $21.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.82. Kinder Morgan has a twelve month low of $15.89 and a twelve month high of $22.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The pipeline company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by ($0.01). Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 7.89% and a net margin of 15.93%. The business had revenue of $3.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.24 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Kinder Morgan will post 1.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were given a $0.2875 dividend. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 104.55%.

Kinder Morgan Company Profile

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.