Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) Reaches New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

Shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $32.58 and last traded at $32.08, with a volume of 12211790 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $32.32.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Kinder Morgan in a report on Friday, January 30th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $38.00 price target on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Kinder Morgan from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.38.

Kinder Morgan Trading Down 0.7%

The firm has a market cap of $71.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.42, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $28.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 21st. The pipeline company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.02. Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 9.02% and a net margin of 18.04%.The company had revenue of $4.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.30 earnings per share. Kinder Morgan’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.2925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 2nd. This represents a $1.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio is 85.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kinder Morgan

In other news, CFO David Patrick Michels sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total transaction of $600,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 139,428 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,182,840. This represents a 12.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP John W. Schlosser sold 6,166 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.49, for a total value of $169,503.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 201,204 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,531,097.96. This represents a 2.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 38,498 shares of company stock valued at $1,126,515. Corporate insiders own 12.73% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kinder Morgan

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 210,281,448 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,780,637,000 after purchasing an additional 2,165,130 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 116,860,317 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,212,490,000 after buying an additional 2,510,601 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Kinder Morgan by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,848,863 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,518,195,000 after buying an additional 599,152 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,132,125,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 30,104,829 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $827,582,000 after acquiring an additional 195,088 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan Company Profile

Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI) is a large energy infrastructure company that owns and operates an extensive network of pipelines and terminals across North America. Its core activities center on the transportation, storage and handling of energy products, including natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil, refined petroleum products and carbon dioxide. The company’s assets include long-haul and gathering pipelines, storage facilities, and multi-modal terminals that serve producers, refiners, utilities and industrial customers.

Kinder Morgan’s operations deliver midstream services such as pipeline transportation, terminaling, storage and related logistics and maintenance.