Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) Shares Acquired by Geneos Wealth Management Inc.

Key Points

• Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Kinder Morgan by 78.2% during the first quarter, now holding 329,716 shares valued at $9.4 million after acquiring 144,732 additional shares.
• Other institutional investors, including Blackstone Inc. and Assenagon Asset Management, also significantly expanded their holdings in Kinder Morgan, indicating strong interest in the pipeline company.
• Kinder Morgan reported earnings of $0.28 per share for the last quarter, matching analysts' expectations, while revenues rose 13.2% year-over-year to $4.04 billion.

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Free Report) by 78.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 329,716 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 144,732 shares during the quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.'s holdings in Kinder Morgan were worth $9,407,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KMI. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 212.5% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,468,235 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $156,009,000 after acquiring an additional 3,718,521 shares during the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. boosted its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 435.0% during the 4th quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 4,358,263 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $119,416,000 after acquiring an additional 3,543,670 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Kinder Morgan during the 4th quarter valued at about $62,499,000. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 66.8% during the 4th quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 5,647,705 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $154,747,000 after acquiring an additional 2,261,924 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Kinder Morgan by 39.1% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 7,788,045 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $213,392,000 after acquiring an additional 2,191,165 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.52% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of Kinder Morgan from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $31.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price 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. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $32.00 target price (up previously from $31.00) on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price 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, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $31.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of Kinder Morgan stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.26, for a total transaction of $508,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Amy W. Chronis acquired 2,759 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The shares were bought at an average price of $27.21 per share, with a total value of $75,072.39. Following the transaction, the director owned 34,764 shares in the company, valued at $945,928.44. This represents a 8.62% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 12.73% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

Shares of KMI traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $28.10. 10,498,476 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,402,537. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $62.45 billion, a PE ratio of 23.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.75. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $27.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.56. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 52-week low of $19.68 and a 52-week high of $31.48.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates 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 period last year, the firm posted $0.26 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be issued a $0.2925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $1.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. Kinder Morgan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 95.90%.

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.