Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) Receives $32.38 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the fifteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $32.5385.

KMI has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $38.00 price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Freedom Capital upgraded Kinder Morgan from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th.

Kinder Morgan Stock Up 0.5%

KMI opened at $33.23 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $73.93 billion, a PE ratio of 24.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.68. The business has a 50-day moving average of $29.50 and a 200-day moving average of $27.90. Kinder Morgan has a fifty-two week low of $23.94 and a fifty-two week high of $33.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.50.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 21st. The pipeline company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $4.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.33 billion. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 18.04% and a return on equity of 9.02%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.30 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Kinder Morgan will post 1.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 2nd were issued a $0.2925 dividend. This represents a $1.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 2nd. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.40%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Anthony B. Ashley sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.95, for a total transaction of $255,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 100,146 shares in the company, valued at $3,199,664.70. This represents a 7.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP John W. Schlosser sold 6,166 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.09, for a total value of $185,534.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 195,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,868,693.42. This represents a 3.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 46,498 shares of company stock valued at $1,382,115 over the last three months. 12.73% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kinder Morgan

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of KMI. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter valued at $1,132,125,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 431.9% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,569,082 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $185,971,000 after buying an additional 5,333,986 shares during the period. Merewether Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in Kinder Morgan during the second quarter worth about $138,477,000. Zimmer Partners LP increased its stake in Kinder Morgan by 177.8% during the third quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 6,070,100 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $171,845,000 after acquiring an additional 3,885,000 shares during the period. Finally, 59 North Capital Management LP raised its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 54.5% in the 2nd quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP now owns 10,597,380 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $311,563,000 after acquiring an additional 3,739,398 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

About Kinder Morgan

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.