Quantessence Capital LLC Acquires Shares of 72,119 Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Quantessence Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 72,119 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,976,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of KMI. CX Institutional boosted its position in Kinder Morgan by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 15,661 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $429,000 after buying an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. grew its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 10,503 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $288,000 after purchasing an additional 367 shares during the last quarter. Ignite Planners LLC raised its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 9,992 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $282,000 after buying an additional 372 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 5,182 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $142,000 after acquiring an additional 385 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bristlecone Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC now owns 15,794 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $433,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kinder Morgan

In related news, VP John W. Schlosser sold 75,461 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.65, for a total value of $2,011,035.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 220,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,881,148.65. The trade was a 25.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.61, for a total value of $478,980.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 825,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,970,599.72. The trade was a 2.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 129,461 shares of company stock valued at $3,506,116 over the last three months. 12.73% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

Shares of KMI opened at $25.81 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $57.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.06, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $26.94 and a 200 day moving average of $26.97. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 12 month low of $18.13 and a 12 month high of $31.48.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 17.31% and a return on equity of 8.09%. The business had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.02 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.2925 dividend. This is a boost from Kinder Morgan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. Kinder Morgan’s payout ratio is currently 99.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on KMI. Citigroup raised their target price on Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.64.

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.