Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Free Report) by 7.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 670,611 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 45,572 shares during the quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $19,133,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 202,846,078 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $5,557,983,000 after purchasing an additional 1,469,759 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 2.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,252,609 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Kinder Morgan in the 4th quarter worth $917,523,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 20,942,841 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $573,834,000 after purchasing an additional 1,608,499 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 14,711,722 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $403,101,000 after purchasing an additional 2,116,576 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.52% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on KMI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target 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. Barclays upgraded shares of Kinder Morgan from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $31.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Kinder Morgan in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Kinder Morgan from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $30.21.

Kinder Morgan Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE:KMI traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $27.61. 13,024,872 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,033,395. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.59, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.74. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 52 week low of $19.47 and a 52 week high of $31.48. The firm's 50 day moving average is $27.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.44. 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 (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, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.34. The company had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.02 billion. Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 17.31% and a return on equity of 8.09%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Kinder Morgan Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were given a $0.2925 dividend. This represents a $1.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.24%. This is a boost from Kinder Morgan's previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. Kinder Morgan's payout ratio is 100.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kinder Morgan

In other Kinder Morgan news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.57, for a total value of $496,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 789,652 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,770,705.64. The trade was a 2.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 54,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,522,440 in the last three months. Company insiders own 12.73% of the company's stock.

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.