Essex Financial Services Inc. Sells 5,251 Shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Essex Financial Services Inc. trimmed its position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 10.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 42,878 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 5,251 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $1,175,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 39.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 8,186,207 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $180,833,000 after buying an additional 2,334,273 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 295.5% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,937,055 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $64,879,000 after acquiring an additional 2,194,489 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 1,849.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,164,637 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $47,817,000 after acquiring an additional 2,053,612 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 847.4% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,475,187 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $40,420,000 after acquiring an additional 1,319,474 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 295.2% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 1,683,356 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $37,185,000 after purchasing an additional 1,257,428 shares in the last quarter. 62.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kinder Morgan Price Performance

Shares of Kinder Morgan stock opened at $26.78 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.35. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a one year low of $16.47 and a one year high of $31.48. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.94.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.01). Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 17.31%. Analysts forecast that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.23 EPS for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.2875 per share. This represents a $1.15 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 98.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on KMI shares. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price objective on the stock. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Kinder Morgan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.14.

Insider Transactions at Kinder Morgan

In other news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.70, for a total transaction of $498,600.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 843,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,369,160.40. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 54,000 shares of company stock worth $1,493,100. Company insiders own 12.64% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan 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.