Morse Asset Management Inc Invests $27,000 in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter valued at $917,523,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Kinder Morgan in the fourth quarter valued at $157,804,000. Blackstone Inc. lifted its position in Kinder Morgan by 435.0% during the fourth quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 4,358,263 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $119,416,000 after buying an additional 3,543,670 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter worth about $87,729,000. Finally, Amundi increased its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 28.9% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 11,819,777 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $334,381,000 after acquiring an additional 2,650,040 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.61, for a total value of $478,980.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 825,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,970,599.72. This trade represents a 2.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP John W. Schlosser sold 75,461 shares of the 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 129,461 shares of company stock worth $3,503,776 over the last ninety days. 12.73% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on KMI shares. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Kinder Morgan from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.79.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

Shares of KMI opened at $27.51 on Wednesday. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 52-week low of $18.83 and a 52-week high of $31.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market cap of $61.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.51, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.74. The business’s 50 day moving average is $27.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.23.

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

Kinder Morgan Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.2925 per share. This is a positive change from Kinder Morgan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 100.86%.

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.