Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) Upgraded at Freedom Capital

Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts have also commented on the company. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $38.00 target price on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Kinder Morgan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.38.

Kinder Morgan Stock Up 0.9%

KMI opened at $30.50 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $27.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.26, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.69. Kinder Morgan has a fifty-two week low of $23.94 and a fifty-two week high of $30.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.64.

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

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 2nd will be given a $0.2925 dividend. This represents a $1.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 2nd. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio is 85.40%.

Insider Activity

In other Kinder Morgan news, CFO David Patrick Michels sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total value of $600,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 139,428 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,182,840. This trade represents a 12.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP John W. Schlosser sold 6,166 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the vice president owned 201,204 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,531,097.96. This trade represents a 2.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 38,498 shares of company stock worth $1,107,462. Insiders own 12.73% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Kinder Morgan

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Personal CFO Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 7,896 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $217,000 after buying an additional 340 shares during the period. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its position in Kinder Morgan by 14.5% in the second quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 2,818 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares during the period. L.M. Kohn & Company increased its stake in Kinder Morgan by 3.4% during the second quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company now owns 10,947 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $322,000 after acquiring an additional 360 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Equity Partners raised its position in Kinder Morgan by 2.2% in the third quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 17,131 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $485,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the period. Finally, Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC raised its position in Kinder Morgan by 4.2% in the second quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC now owns 9,377 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $276,000 after purchasing an additional 374 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.