Alta Advisers Ltd Purchases New Shares in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Alta Advisers Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 9,188 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $262,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KMI. Morton Capital Management LLC CA grew its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 1.0% during the first quarter. Morton Capital Management LLC CA now owns 37,981 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,084,000 after buying an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. Diligent Investors LLC boosted its position in Kinder Morgan by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Diligent Investors LLC now owns 26,083 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $715,000 after acquiring an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. Aspiriant LLC grew its stake in Kinder Morgan by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Aspiriant LLC now owns 23,738 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $677,000 after acquiring an additional 396 shares during the period. Sowell Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in Kinder Morgan by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC now owns 79,825 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $2,277,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 4,946 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $136,000 after purchasing an additional 435 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.52% of the company's stock.

Kinder Morgan Trading Up 0.6%

KMI stock traded up $0.16 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $28.49. 15,596,498 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,985,279. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.35. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $19.47 and a fifty-two week high of $31.48. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $27.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.50. The company has a market capitalization of $63.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.56, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.75.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.34. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 16.67% and a return on equity of 8.11%. The business had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.02 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were given a $0.2925 dividend. This is an increase from Kinder Morgan's previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.11%. Kinder Morgan's dividend payout ratio is presently 100.86%.

Insider Activity

In related news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.26, for a total transaction of $508,680.00. Following the sale, the president directly owned 771,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,806,885.52. This trade represents a 2.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 12.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KMI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $32.00 price target (up from $31.00) on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Kinder Morgan in a report on Monday, May 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $30.29.

Kinder Morgan Company Profile

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.