Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Purchases 690 Shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its position in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 67,365 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 690 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $1,846,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. PKS Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter worth $450,000. Houlihan Financial Resource Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Houlihan Financial Resource Group Ltd. now owns 57,819 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,584,000 after acquiring an additional 1,004 shares during the last quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust grew its position in Kinder Morgan by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust now owns 54,662 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,498,000 after acquiring an additional 511 shares in the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Kinder Morgan by 934.2% during the fourth quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 378,089 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $10,235,000 after acquiring an additional 341,531 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Kinder Morgan during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 62.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on KMI. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Mizuho boosted their price objective 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. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $26.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.64.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP John W. Schlosser sold 75,461 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.65, for a total value of $2,011,035.65. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 220,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,881,148.65. This trade represents a 25.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.70, for a total value of $498,600.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 843,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,369,160.40. This trade represents a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 129,461 shares of company stock worth $3,490,996. 12.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

Kinder Morgan stock opened at $28.48 on Thursday. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.61 and a fifty-two week high of $31.48. The company has a market capitalization of $63.27 billion, a PE ratio of 24.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $27.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.49.

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

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.2875 per share. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.