Morningstar Investment Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Morningstar Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 42.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 147,176 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 108,920 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $4,033,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP increased its stake in Kinder Morgan by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 10,550,002 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $233,050,000 after purchasing an additional 69,307 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 39.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 8,186,207 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $180,833,000 after acquiring an additional 2,334,273 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 7,485,834 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $163,116,000 after acquiring an additional 164,152 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in Kinder Morgan by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 4,591,311 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $101,422,000 after acquiring an additional 29,861 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 30.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,007,857 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $88,534,000 after purchasing an additional 932,469 shares during the last quarter. 62.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kinder Morgan

In related news, VP John W. Schlosser sold 75,461 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.65, for a total transaction of $2,011,035.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 220,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,881,148.65. This trade represents a 25.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of Kinder Morgan 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 completion of the sale, the president now owns 861,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,048,707.32. This represents a 2.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 129,461 shares of company stock valued at $3,504,136 over the last ninety days. 12.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Kinder Morgan Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE KMI opened at $26.84 on Thursday. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.00 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 company has a market capitalization of $59.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $27.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $25.25.

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

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.2875 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.29%. Kinder Morgan’s payout ratio is presently 98.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on KMI shares. Citigroup boosted their price target on Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.14.

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.