Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $29.64.

A number of research firms have issued reports on KMI. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup lifted their target price on Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Kinder Morgan from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd.

Kinder Morgan Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of KMI opened at $27.51 on Friday. Kinder Morgan has a 52-week low of $17.61 and a 52-week high of $31.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.02. The company has a market capitalization of $61.13 billion, a PE ratio of 23.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.32 earnings per share 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Kinder Morgan will post 1.25 EPS for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.2875 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.18%. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 98.29%.

Insider Activity at Kinder Morgan

In other news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.61, for a total transaction of $478,980.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 825,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,970,599.72. The trade was a 2.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP John W. Schlosser sold 75,461 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.65, for a total transaction of $2,011,035.65. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 220,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,881,148.65. This represents a 25.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 129,461 shares of company stock worth $3,490,996 over the last quarter. 12.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kinder Morgan

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of KMI. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 202,846,078 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $5,557,983,000 after purchasing an additional 1,469,759 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Kinder Morgan by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,759,844 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,414,813,000 after buying an additional 1,252,609 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Kinder Morgan during the fourth quarter valued at about $917,523,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 20,942,841 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $573,834,000 after buying an additional 1,608,499 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 14,711,722 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $403,101,000 after acquiring an additional 2,116,576 shares in the last quarter. 62.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.