First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Increases Stake in Kinder Morgan, Inc. $KMI

Key Points

• First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. boosted its Kinder Morgan stake by 45.8% in Q1, buying 176,493 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 561,544 shares worth about $18.8 million.
• Wall Street sentiment on KMI remains mixed: analysts now have an average Hold rating and a consensus price target of $34.71, with several firms recently cutting ratings or trimming targets.
• Kinder Morgan reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings of $0.48 per share on revenue of $4.83 billion, while insiders have recently sold shares under pre-arranged trading plans.

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. increased its stake in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Free Report) by 45.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 561,544 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 176,493 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.'s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $18,829,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. TD Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 36.0% in the fourth quarter. TD Capital Management LLC now owns 1,220 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 2,860 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $79,000 after buying an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC increased its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 8,588 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $288,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 8,445 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $232,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares during the period. Finally, Waddell & Associates LLC raised its stake in Kinder Morgan by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 26,206 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $720,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.52% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on KMI. Wolfe Research lowered Kinder Morgan from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Zacks Research lowered shares of Kinder Morgan from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $36.00 to $34.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Monday, March 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Kinder Morgan from a "buy (a-)" rating to a "buy (b+)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $34.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kinder Morgan

In other Kinder Morgan news, VP Michael P. Garthwaite sold 1,550 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.44, for a total value of $48,732.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 41,743 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,312,399.92. The trade was a 3.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP John W. Schlosser sold 6,166 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.90, for a total transaction of $196,695.40. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 164,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,238,235.20. The trade was a 3.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,598 shares of company stock worth $693,689. 12.72% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Kinder Morgan Stock Down 0.6%

Kinder Morgan stock opened at $32.38 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $72.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.54. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.60 and a 52 week high of $34.81. The business's 50-day moving average price is $32.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.10. Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 9.90% and a net margin of 18.92%.The company had revenue of $4.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.34 earnings per share. Kinder Morgan's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

About Kinder Morgan

Kinder Morgan NYSE: KMI is a large energy infrastructure company that owns and operates an extensive network of pipelines and terminals across North America. Its core activities center on the transportation, storage and handling of energy products, including natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil, refined petroleum products and carbon dioxide. The company's assets include long-haul and gathering pipelines, storage facilities, and multi-modal terminals that serve producers, refiners, utilities and industrial customers.

Kinder Morgan's operations deliver midstream services such as pipeline transportation, terminaling, storage and related logistics and maintenance.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding KMI? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.