Chilton Capital Management LLC Decreases Stake in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Chilton Capital Management LLC reduced its position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Free Report) by 47.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 27,298 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 24,396 shares during the quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC's holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $779,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of KMI. Sierra Ocean LLC grew its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 927.1% during the first quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC now owns 873 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 788 shares in the last quarter. Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new position in Kinder Morgan in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Kinder Morgan during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, JNBA Financial Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 669.2% in the 1st quarter. JNBA Financial Advisors now owns 1,000 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 870 shares in the last quarter. 62.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on KMI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $32.00 target price (up previously from $31.00) on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Kinder Morgan in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $30.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kinder Morgan

In related news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the president directly owned 771,652 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,806,885.52. This represents a 2.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 12.73% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

Shares of KMI traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $28.36. 9,336,001 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,955,975. The business's 50 day moving average is $27.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.75. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $19.68 and a fifty-two week high of $31.48.

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

Kinder Morgan Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were paid a $0.2925 dividend. This represents a $1.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 100.86%.

Kinder Morgan 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.