Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) Trading Down 3.3% After Insider Selling

Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) shares fell 3.3% on Thursday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $26.65 and last traded at $26.72. 4,224,160 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 15,813,908 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.64.

Specifically, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.70, for a total transaction of $498,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 843,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,369,160.40. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on KMI. Scotiabank started coverage on Kinder Morgan in a research note on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $26.00 price target for the company. Bank of America initiated coverage on Kinder Morgan in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $27.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Kinder Morgan presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.14.

Kinder Morgan Stock Up 1.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.49. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.91. The company has a market capitalization of $60.13 billion, a PE ratio of 23.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.94.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last released 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 net margin of 17.31% and a return on equity of 8.09%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.2875 per share. This represents a $1.15 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 98.29%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kinder Morgan

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KMI. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,093,242 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 28.9% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 11,819,777 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $334,381,000 after purchasing an additional 2,650,040 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 10,550,002 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $233,050,000 after purchasing an additional 69,307 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 39.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 8,186,207 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $180,833,000 after buying an additional 2,334,273 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 2.2% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 7,485,834 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $163,116,000 after acquiring an additional 164,152 shares in the last quarter. 62.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.