Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Reduces Position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. trimmed its stake in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 1.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 29,980,425 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 312,986 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $855,156,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of KMI. Sierra Ocean LLC grew its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 927.1% during the first quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC now owns 873 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 788 shares during the period. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, JNBA Financial Advisors raised its stake in Kinder Morgan by 669.2% during the 1st quarter. JNBA Financial Advisors now owns 1,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 870 shares during the period. 62.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Kinder Morgan

In related news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.26, for a total transaction of $508,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president owned 771,652 shares in the company, valued at $21,806,885.52. This trade represents a 2.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO David Patrick Michels sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.19, for a total transaction of $1,127,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 159,428 shares in the company, valued at $4,494,275.32. This represents a 20.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 109,715 shares of company stock valued at $3,081,245. Company insiders own 12.73% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan Trading Down 4.5%

KMI stock opened at $26.77 on Thursday. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.56 and a twelve month high of $31.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.51.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28. The company had revenue of $4.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.75 billion. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 17.06% and a return on equity of 8.31%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.26 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be issued a $0.2925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $1.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 95.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on KMI shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. TD Cowen started coverage on Kinder Morgan in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.00 price objective on the stock. Scotiabank 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 Friday, July 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Kinder Morgan from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $31.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Kinder Morgan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.13.

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.