State of Michigan Retirement System Decreases Holdings in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

State of Michigan Retirement System decreased its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 0.2% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 528,845 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $10,508,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 15.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 199,888,911 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,665,963,000 after acquiring an additional 27,254,172 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Kinder Morgan during the 4th quarter worth approximately $409,063,000. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan in the first quarter valued at approximately $87,627,000. Castle Hook Partners LP raised its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 108.2% during the first quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 7,799,826 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $143,049,000 after purchasing an additional 4,053,793 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 45.9% during the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 9,959,947 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $182,665,000 after purchasing an additional 3,135,457 shares during the period. 62.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KMI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Kinder Morgan from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $18.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Kinder Morgan from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on Kinder Morgan from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.20.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

NYSE KMI opened at $21.39 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $20.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.18. The company has a market capitalization of $47.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.45, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.93. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 1-year low of $15.89 and a 1-year high of $21.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.28.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The pipeline company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by ($0.01). Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 15.93% and a return on equity of 7.89%. The firm had revenue of $3.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.24 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were issued a $0.2875 dividend. This represents a $1.15 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 104.55%.

Insider Activity

In related news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 100,000 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.01, for a total transaction of $2,101,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 916,773 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,261,400.73. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Kinder Morgan news, VP Sital K. Mody sold 21,413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.25, for a total transaction of $455,026.25. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 25,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $534,841.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.01, for a total transaction of $2,101,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 916,773 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,261,400.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 148,311 shares of company stock worth $3,121,891 over the last ninety days. 12.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Kinder Morgan Company Profile

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.