Xponance Inc. Increases Stock Position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Xponance Inc. grew its position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 5.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 303,044 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,114 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $8,303,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in KMI. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new stake in Kinder Morgan during the fourth quarter worth about $10,610,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 230,287 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $6,310,000 after buying an additional 10,653 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 261.1% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 329,091 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $9,015,000 after buying an additional 237,952 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 24,999 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $685,000 after buying an additional 3,004 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp increased its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 308,002 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,439,000 after buying an additional 42,044 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on KMI. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $26.00 target price for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kinder Morgan presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.64.

Kinder Morgan Price Performance

KMI stock opened at $27.51 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $27.59 and a 200-day moving average of $26.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.61 and a 12 month high of $31.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last released 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 predict that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.2875 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.15 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.18%. Kinder Morgan’s payout ratio is presently 98.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kinder Morgan

In other Kinder Morgan news, VP John W. Schlosser sold 75,461 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 220,681 shares in the company, valued at $5,881,148.65. The trade was a 25.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the president now owns 861,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,048,707.32. The trade was a 2.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 129,461 shares of company stock worth $3,490,996 over the last three months. 12.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.