Ethic Inc. Has $3.66 Million Position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Ethic Inc. lessened its position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 21.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 133,670 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 37,439 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $3,663,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in KMI. First Manhattan CO. LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter worth approximately $248,000. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 14,711,722 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $403,101,000 after purchasing an additional 2,116,576 shares in the last quarter. Diligent Investors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Diligent Investors LLC now owns 26,083 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $715,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Global Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 248.6% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Global Advisors LLC now owns 879,460 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $24,097,000 after buying an additional 627,160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 139,232 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,815,000 after buying an additional 1,719 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Kinder Morgan

In related news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.61, for a total value of $478,980.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 825,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,970,599.72. This trade represents a 2.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP John W. Schlosser sold 75,461 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.65, for a total transaction of $2,011,035.65. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 220,681 shares in the company, valued at $5,881,148.65. This trade represents a 25.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 129,461 shares of company stock valued at $3,503,776. 12.73% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Barclays upgraded shares of Kinder Morgan from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $31.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Citigroup raised their price target on Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.79.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

Shares of Kinder Morgan stock opened at $27.32 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The company has a market capitalization of $60.71 billion, a PE ratio of 23.35, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.74. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 12 month low of $18.83 and a 12 month high of $31.48.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34. Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 17.31%. The company had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.02 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.2925 per share. This represents a $1.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.28%. This is a positive change from Kinder Morgan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.86%.

Kinder Morgan 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.