Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) Sets New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) reached a new 52-week high on Monday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $30.00 to $33.00. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Kinder Morgan traded as high as $27.68 and last traded at $27.63, with a volume of 2369246 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $27.27.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on KMI. Bank of America began coverage on Kinder Morgan in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Kinder Morgan from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Kinder Morgan from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “conviction-buy” rating on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Argus upgraded Kinder Morgan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kinder Morgan news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 19,121 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.28, for a total transaction of $502,499.88. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 897,652 shares in the company, valued at $23,590,294.56. This represents a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director C Park Shaper sold 690,142 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.75, for a total value of $17,081,014.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,809,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $168,543,985.50. This trade represents a 9.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 12.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Kinder Morgan by 198.5% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 48,954 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $898,000 after buying an additional 32,552 shares during the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association acquired a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan in the 1st quarter valued at $304,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Kinder Morgan by 186.8% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 47,437 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $868,000 after acquiring an additional 30,899 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its stake in Kinder Morgan by 245.0% during the 1st quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 118,613 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,175,000 after purchasing an additional 84,236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 41.4% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 4,084 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 1,196 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan Stock Up 1.3 %

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.50. The company has a market capitalization of $61.36 billion, a PE ratio of 23.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last posted its earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.05 billion. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 16.76% and a return on equity of 7.87%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a dividend of $0.2875 per share. This represents a $1.15 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.16%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.