Avestar Capital LLC Boosts Stake in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Avestar Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,716 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 714 shares during the quarter. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $259,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in Kinder Morgan by 9.2% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 26,871 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $492,000 after acquiring an additional 2,274 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank increased its position in Kinder Morgan by 0.4% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 723,774 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $13,274,000 after acquiring an additional 2,568 shares during the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Kinder Morgan by 332.3% during the first quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 79,637 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,461,000 after acquiring an additional 61,217 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Kinder Morgan during the first quarter valued at $525,000. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Kinder Morgan during the first quarter valued at $6,882,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Kinder Morgan

In other news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 19,121 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.28, for a total value of $502,499.88. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 897,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,590,294.56. This represents a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Amy W. Chronis acquired 2,241 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $24.89 per share, for a total transaction of $55,778.49. Following the purchase, the director now owns 23,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $597,235.55. This represents a 10.30 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 12.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on KMI shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Bank of America began coverage on Kinder Morgan in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Kinder Morgan from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Kinder Morgan from $22.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Kinder Morgan from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.67.

Kinder Morgan Price Performance

NYSE:KMI opened at $28.07 on Thursday. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 12 month low of $16.47 and a 12 month high of $28.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The business’s 50-day moving average is $24.95 and its 200 day moving average is $22.01. The company has a market capitalization of $62.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.62, a P/E/G ratio of 4.01 and a beta of 0.91.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.02). Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 16.76% and a return on equity of 7.87%. The company had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a dividend of $0.2875 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.10%. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.88%.

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.