Empirical Finance LLC Has $1.82 Million Stake in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Empirical Finance LLC lessened its stake in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 66,565 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 863 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $1,824,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 0.7% during the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 10,550,002 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $233,050,000 after acquiring an additional 69,307 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its position in Kinder Morgan by 39.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 8,186,207 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $180,833,000 after purchasing an additional 2,334,273 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 7,485,834 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $163,116,000 after purchasing an additional 164,152 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 4,591,311 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $101,422,000 after buying an additional 29,861 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 30.3% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,007,857 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $88,534,000 after buying an additional 932,469 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Kinder Morgan

In other news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.91, for a total transaction of $502,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 861,652 shares in the company, valued at $24,048,707.32. This represents a 2.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 54,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,493,100. Corporate insiders own 12.64% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KMI opened at $27.07 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $27.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.94. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.47 and a 1-year high of $31.48. The firm has a market cap of $60.13 billion, a PE ratio of 23.13, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 17.31%. Research analysts predict that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors 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 yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. Kinder Morgan’s payout ratio is 98.29%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on KMI shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank started coverage on Kinder Morgan in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $26.00 target price for the company. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Kinder Morgan in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price objective for the company. Nine research 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kinder Morgan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.14.

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.