Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) Lowered to Hold Rating by Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on KMI. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $36.00 to $34.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $31.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered Kinder Morgan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.71.

Kinder Morgan Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of KMI stock opened at $32.60 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.04. Kinder Morgan has a fifty-two week low of $25.60 and a fifty-two week high of $34.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.10. Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 9.90% and a net margin of 18.92%.The firm had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.34 earnings per share. Kinder Morgan’s revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Kinder Morgan has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.360-1.360 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Kinder Morgan will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th were paid a $0.2975 dividend. This represents a $1.19 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. This is a positive change from Kinder Morgan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP John W. Schlosser sold 6,166 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.41, for a total transaction of $199,840.06. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 176,540 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,721,661.40. This trade represents a 3.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Michael P. Garthwaite sold 1,550 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.44, for a total transaction of $48,732.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 41,743 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,312,399.92. This represents a 3.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 23,148 shares of company stock worth $749,206 in the last 90 days. 12.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kinder Morgan

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in Kinder Morgan during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,132,125,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 431.9% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,569,082 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $185,971,000 after acquiring an additional 5,333,986 shares during the period. Merewether Investment Management LP bought a new stake in Kinder Morgan during the second quarter valued at about $138,477,000. Zimmer Partners LP grew its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 177.8% in the third quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 6,070,100 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $171,845,000 after purchasing an additional 3,885,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan in the fourth quarter worth about $85,364,000. 62.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Kinder Morgan Company Profile

Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI) is a large energy infrastructure company that owns and operates an extensive network of pipelines and terminals across North America. Its core activities center on the transportation, storage and handling of energy products, including natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil, refined petroleum products and carbon dioxide. The company’s assets include long-haul and gathering pipelines, storage facilities, and multi-modal terminals that serve producers, refiners, utilities and industrial customers.

Kinder Morgan’s operations deliver midstream services such as pipeline transportation, terminaling, storage and related logistics and maintenance.