794,684 Shares in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) Purchased by KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 794,684 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,774,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Xponance Inc. raised its stake in Kinder Morgan by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 303,044 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $8,303,000 after acquiring an additional 15,114 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Kinder Morgan by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,291,704 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $50,624,000 after acquiring an additional 71,984 shares during the period. Golden State Equity Partners raised its stake in Kinder Morgan by 2,507.9% in the 4th quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 16,430 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $450,000 after acquiring an additional 15,800 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Kinder Morgan by 39.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 8,186,207 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $180,833,000 after acquiring an additional 2,334,273 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in Kinder Morgan by 116.1% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 210,645 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,772,000 after acquiring an additional 113,173 shares during the period. 62.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup upped their price target on Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays upgraded Kinder Morgan from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $31.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Seven equities research 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kinder Morgan news, VP John W. Schlosser sold 75,461 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.65, for a total value of $2,011,035.65. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.91, for a total value of $502,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 861,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,048,707.32. This represents a 2.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 129,461 shares of company stock valued at $3,490,996 over the last quarter. 12.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Kinder Morgan Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE KMI opened at $27.90 on Friday. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.61 and a 12 month high of $31.48. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $61.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.84, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50-day moving average of $27.57 and a 200-day moving average of $26.12.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.2875 dividend. This represents a $1.15 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 98.29%.

About Kinder Morgan

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.