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

Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the fifteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $29.14.

KMI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Scotiabank started coverage on Kinder Morgan in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $26.00 price target for the company. Barclays boosted their price target on Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kinder Morgan news, Director Amy W. Chronis purchased 2,241 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $24.89 per share, for a total transaction of $55,778.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,995 shares in the company, valued at approximately $597,235.55. This represents a 10.30 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.34, for a total value of $492,120.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 879,652 shares in the company, valued at $24,049,685.68. This represents a 2.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 55,121 shares of company stock worth $1,497,000 in the last quarter. 12.81% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kinder Morgan

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Kinder Morgan during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Kinder Morgan during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp increased its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 143.6% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 1,352 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 797 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan Stock Down 0.6 %

Kinder Morgan stock opened at $27.30 on Thursday. Kinder Morgan has a fifty-two week low of $16.47 and a fifty-two week high of $31.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.33, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $28.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.60.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.01). Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 17.31% and a return on equity of 8.10%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Kinder Morgan will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a $0.2875 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.21%. Kinder Morgan’s payout ratio is presently 98.29%.

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.