Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. Purchases 2,825 Shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 322,854 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,825 shares during the period. Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $8,846,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CX Institutional grew its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 15,661 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $429,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. grew its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 10,503 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $288,000 after buying an additional 367 shares in the last quarter. Ignite Planners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 9,992 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 372 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 5,182 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $142,000 after buying an additional 385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bristlecone Advisors LLC grew its position in Kinder Morgan by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC now owns 15,794 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $433,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KMI has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. 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 increased their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.64.

Kinder Morgan Trading Down 4.8 %

Shares of NYSE KMI opened at $25.81 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $57.35 billion, a PE ratio of 22.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a twelve month low of $18.13 and a twelve month high of $31.48. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.97.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 17.31% and a return on equity of 8.09%. The business had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.02 billion. Analysts expect that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.2925 per share. This represents a $1.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.53%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. This is a boost from Kinder Morgan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Kinder Morgan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.14%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP John W. Schlosser sold 75,461 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 220,681 shares in the company, valued at $5,881,148.65. The trade was a 25.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.70, for a total transaction of $498,600.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 843,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,369,160.40. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 129,461 shares of company stock worth $3,506,116. 12.73% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.