Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) Trading Up 1% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) rose 1% on Friday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $27.00 to $31.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Kinder Morgan traded as high as $30.31 and last traded at $30.35. Approximately 4,625,084 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 62% from the average daily volume of 12,224,675 shares. The stock had previously closed at $30.06.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Kinder Morgan in a research note on Friday, January 10th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $26.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.00.

Insider Transactions at Kinder Morgan

In other news, Director Amy W. Chronis acquired 2,241 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $24.89 per share, with a total value of $55,778.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $597,235.55. The trade was a 10.30 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director C Park Shaper sold 690,142 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.75, for a total transaction of $17,081,014.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,809,858 shares in the company, valued at $168,543,985.50. This represents a 9.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 745,263 shares of company stock valued at $18,578,014 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 12.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kinder Morgan

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Kinder Morgan in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in Kinder Morgan during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new stake in Kinder Morgan during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp raised its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 143.6% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 1,352 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 797 shares in the last quarter. 62.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.46. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $27.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.07. The company has a market capitalization of $67.36 billion, a PE ratio of 26.59, a PEG ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.94.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.05 billion. Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 16.76%. Kinder Morgan’s revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.25 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.17 EPS for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Company 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.