Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 34,530 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 1,124 shares during the quarter. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $946,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Kinder Morgan in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Kinder Morgan during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan in the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp increased its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 143.6% during 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KMI has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group upped their target price on Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $27.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kinder Morgan presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.14.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.34, for a total value of $492,120.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 879,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,049,685.68. The trade was a 2.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 54,000 shares of company stock worth $1,493,100. Corporate insiders own 12.64% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KMI opened at $26.29 on Thursday. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.47 and a 1 year high of $31.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50-day moving average is $27.85 and its 200 day moving average is $25.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.35.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.01). Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 17.31%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.2875 per share. This represents a $1.15 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.37%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 98.29%.

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.