Benjamin Edwards Inc. Sells 67,323 Shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Key Points

• Benjamin Edwards Inc. sold 67,323 shares of Kinder Morgan, reducing its holdings by 15.9%, leaving it with 355,998 shares valued at $10.16 million.
• Institutional investors control 62.52% of Kinder Morgan's stock, with several firms like Vanguard and Goldman Sachs increasing their stakes significantly during the last quarters.
• Kinder Morgan recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.2925 per share, translating to an annual yield of 4.4% and a payout ratio of 95.90%.

Benjamin Edwards Inc. trimmed its holdings in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Free Report) by 15.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 355,998 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 67,323 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.'s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $10,157,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Sierra Ocean LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 927.1% during the 1st quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC now owns 873 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 788 shares during the last quarter. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Finally, JNBA Financial Advisors raised its position in Kinder Morgan by 669.2% in the 1st quarter. JNBA Financial Advisors now owns 1,000 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 870 shares during the period. 62.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KMI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $32.00 price objective (up previously from $31.00) on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kinder Morgan presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $31.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kinder Morgan

In related news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.26, for a total transaction of $508,680.00. Following the sale, the president owned 771,652 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,806,885.52. The trade was a 2.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP John W. Schlosser sold 6,166 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.80, for a total transaction of $171,414.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 232,034 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,450,545.20. This represents a 2.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 109,715 shares of company stock valued at $3,081,245 over the last three months. 12.73% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Kinder Morgan Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of NYSE KMI traded down $0.33 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $26.56. 15,162,371 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,127,970. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.56 and a 12-month high of $31.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.68. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $27.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.38. The firm has a market cap of $59.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.78.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.28. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 17.06% and a return on equity of 8.31%. The business had revenue of $4.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.75 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.26 earnings per share. Kinder Morgan's quarterly revenue was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.2925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $1.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. Kinder Morgan's payout ratio is presently 95.90%.

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.