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

Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $29.64.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup raised their price target on Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Kinder Morgan from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Kinder Morgan from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th.

Kinder Morgan Trading Up 2.1 %

Kinder Morgan stock opened at $27.11 on Friday. Kinder Morgan has a 52-week low of $17.52 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 capitalization of $60.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.17, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $27.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.94.

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

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, VP John W. Schlosser sold 75,461 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.65, for a total value of $2,011,035.65. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 220,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,881,148.65. This trade represents a 25.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.70, for a total value of $498,600.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 843,652 shares in the company, valued at $23,369,160.40. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 129,461 shares of company stock worth $3,490,996 over the last 90 days. 12.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kinder Morgan

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Kinder Morgan by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,759,844 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,414,813,000 after purchasing an additional 1,252,609 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Kinder Morgan in the fourth quarter valued at about $917,523,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Kinder Morgan by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 20,942,841 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $573,834,000 after purchasing an additional 1,608,499 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 14,711,722 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $403,101,000 after purchasing an additional 2,116,576 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

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.