Analysts Set Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) Target Price at $29.64

Shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the fifteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $29.64.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays raised shares of Kinder Morgan from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $31.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Kinder Morgan in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $26.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note 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.

Kinder Morgan Stock Up 2.1 %

KMI stock opened at $27.11 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $27.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.17, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. Kinder Morgan has a one year low of $17.52 and a one year high of $31.48.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.01). Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 17.31% and a return on equity of 8.09%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Kinder Morgan will post 1.25 EPS for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.2875 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.15 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.24%. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 98.29%.

Insider Activity at Kinder Morgan

In other Kinder Morgan news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.91, for a total transaction of $502,380.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 861,652 shares in the company, valued at $24,048,707.32. This represents a 2.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP John W. Schlosser sold 75,461 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 220,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,881,148.65. The trade was a 25.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 129,461 shares of company stock valued at $3,490,996. Insiders own 12.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kinder Morgan

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in KMI. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Kinder Morgan by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 202,846,078 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,557,983,000 after purchasing an additional 1,469,759 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,759,844 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,414,813,000 after buying an additional 1,252,609 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Kinder Morgan during the fourth quarter worth about $917,523,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 20,942,841 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $573,834,000 after acquiring an additional 1,608,499 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 14,711,722 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $403,101,000 after purchasing an additional 2,116,576 shares during the last quarter. 62.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.