National Pension Service Increases Stock Holdings in Kinder Morgan, Inc. $KMI

National Pension Service raised its position in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 1.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,137,976 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 72,439 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned 0.19% of Kinder Morgan worth $117,146,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Davis Capital Management purchased a new stake in Kinder Morgan in the third quarter worth about $1,426,000. Carnegie Investment Counsel grew its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 755,295 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $21,382,000 after acquiring an additional 67,274 shares during the period. Vise Technologies Inc. purchased a new stake in Kinder Morgan in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,713,000. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its stake in Kinder Morgan by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 7,058,772 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $207,528,000 after acquiring an additional 616,679 shares during the period. Finally, Community Financial Services Group LLC purchased a new position in Kinder Morgan during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,683,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on KMI shares. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $38.00 price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Kinder Morgan from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Freedom Capital upgraded Kinder Morgan from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. TD Cowen increased their target price on Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Kinder Morgan in a report on Friday. 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 stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO David Patrick Michels sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total value of $600,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP John W. Schlosser sold 6,166 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 5th. The stock was 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 trade represents a 2.97% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 38,498 shares of company stock worth $1,107,462. Company insiders own 12.73% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan Price Performance

Shares of Kinder Morgan stock opened at $30.50 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $67.85 billion, a PE ratio of 22.26, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.69. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $27.57 and a 200 day moving average of $27.29. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $23.94 and a 12 month high of $30.57.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last released 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 net margin of 18.04% and a return on equity of 9.02%. The company had revenue of $4.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.30 earnings per share. Kinder Morgan’s revenue was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.2925 per share. This represents a $1.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 2nd. Kinder Morgan’s payout ratio is presently 85.40%.

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.