Ethic Inc. Sells 37,439 Shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Ethic Inc. cut its holdings in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Free Report) by 21.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 133,670 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 37,439 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $3,663,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 202,846,078 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $5,557,983,000 after purchasing an additional 1,469,759 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Kinder Morgan by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 51,759,844 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,414,813,000 after acquiring an additional 1,252,609 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Kinder Morgan during the 4th quarter worth approximately $917,523,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Kinder Morgan by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 20,942,841 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $573,834,000 after acquiring an additional 1,608,499 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in Kinder Morgan by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 14,711,722 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $403,101,000 after acquiring an additional 2,116,576 shares during the last quarter. 62.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

KMI stock traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $27.38. 10,594,674 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,986,370. 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 $18.83 and a 12 month high of $31.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.23.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.34. Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 8.09% and a net margin of 17.31%. The company had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.02 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.2925 per share. This is a boost from Kinder Morgan's previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. Kinder Morgan's payout ratio is 100.86%.

Insider Transactions at Kinder Morgan

In other news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.61, for a total transaction of $478,980.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 825,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,970,599.72. The trade was a 2.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP John W. Schlosser sold 75,461 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.65, for a total value of $2,011,035.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 220,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,881,148.65. This represents a 25.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 129,461 shares of company stock worth $3,503,776. Insiders own 12.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KMI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Barclays raised Kinder Morgan from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $31.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Kinder Morgan has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $29.79.

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.