Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Invests $3.80 Million in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 138,512 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,795,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in KMI. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan in the fourth quarter worth about $917,523,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Kinder Morgan during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $157,804,000. Blackstone Inc. boosted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 435.0% during the fourth quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 4,358,263 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $119,416,000 after buying an additional 3,543,670 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership bought a new position in Kinder Morgan during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $87,729,000. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 28.9% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 11,819,777 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $334,381,000 after buying an additional 2,650,040 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KMI has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Kinder Morgan from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. UBS Group increased their price target on Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup increased their price target on Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.79.

Kinder Morgan Price Performance

NYSE:KMI opened at $27.31 on Tuesday. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a twelve month low of $18.83 and a twelve month high of $31.48. The company has a market cap of $60.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.74. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.34. Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 17.31%. The business had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.02 billion. Analysts anticipate that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.2925 per share. This represents a $1.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.28%. This is an increase from Kinder Morgan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.86%.

Insider Transactions at Kinder Morgan

In other news, VP John W. Schlosser sold 75,461 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 220,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,881,148.65. This trade represents a 25.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.57, for a total value of $496,260.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 789,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,770,705.64. This represents a 2.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 129,461 shares of company stock worth $3,503,776. 12.73% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.