Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) Position Boosted by Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 6.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,125,429 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 196,691 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $88,356,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan during the 4th quarter valued at $217,000. Financial Counselors Inc. boosted its position in Kinder Morgan by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 10,915 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 888 shares during the last quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp increased its position in Kinder Morgan by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp now owns 34,908 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $956,000 after purchasing an additional 735 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 1,055,429 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $28,919,000 after purchasing an additional 4,841 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 67,365 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,846,000 after buying an additional 690 shares in the last quarter. 62.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KMI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho raised their target price on Kinder Morgan from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group upped their price target on Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.64.

Insider Transactions at Kinder Morgan

In other Kinder Morgan news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.61, for a total transaction of $478,980.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 825,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,970,599.72. This trade represents a 2.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP John W. Schlosser sold 75,461 shares of the company’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 in the company, valued at approximately $5,881,148.65. The trade was a 25.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 129,461 shares of company stock valued at $3,490,996. Company insiders own 12.64% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan Stock Down 0.8 %

NYSE KMI opened at $28.24 on Friday. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.61 and a twelve month high of $31.48. 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 cap of $62.75 billion, a PE ratio of 24.14, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.29.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 17.31%. On average, research analysts forecast that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.2875 dividend. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.07%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio is 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.