Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) Shares Sold by Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 99,349 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 3,445 shares during the period. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $2,722,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Kinder Morgan by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 202,846,078 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,557,983,000 after buying an additional 1,469,759 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Kinder Morgan during the 4th quarter worth $917,523,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 13,734,753 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $376,332,000 after buying an additional 1,093,242 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 28.9% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 11,819,777 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $334,381,000 after buying an additional 2,650,040 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 39.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 8,186,207 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $180,833,000 after purchasing an additional 2,334,273 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Kinder Morgan

In related news, 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 220,681 shares in the company, valued at $5,881,148.65. This represents a 25.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 129,461 shares of company stock valued at $3,490,996 in the last ninety days. 12.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho increased their price target on Kinder Morgan from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group upped their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Kinder Morgan in a report on Friday, January 10th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $26.00 price target on the stock. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.64.

Kinder Morgan Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE KMI opened at $28.39 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $27.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.61 and a 52 week high of $31.48. The firm has a market cap of $63.07 billion, a PE ratio of 24.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.2875 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.05%. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.