Morningstar Investment Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Morningstar Investment Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 42.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 147,176 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 108,920 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $4,033,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of KMI. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 0.7% in the third 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 stake 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 purchasing an additional 2,334,273 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in 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 worth $163,116,000 after buying an additional 164,152 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 0.7% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 30.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,007,857 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $88,534,000 after acquiring an additional 932,469 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP John W. Schlosser sold 75,461 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 220,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,881,148.65. This represents a 25.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $498,600.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 843,652 shares in the company, valued at $23,369,160.40. This represents a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 129,461 shares of company stock valued at $3,504,136 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on KMI. Citigroup increased their target price on Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $36.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $26.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.14.

Kinder Morgan Trading Up 0.3 %

KMI opened at $26.84 on Thursday. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a one year low of $17.00 and a one year high of $31.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.94, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.94.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.32 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%. Analysts predict that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.2875 per share. This represents a $1.15 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.