Ameriprise Financial Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Kinder Morgan, Inc. $KMI

Key Points

• Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Kinder Morgan, Inc. by 4.3%, now owning about 0.15% of the company, valued at approximately $94.6 million.
• Recently, several hedge funds and institutional investors have made significant purchases or increases in their holdings in Kinder Morgan, indicating growing interest in the company.
• Kinder Morgan's CFO sold 40,000 shares, reflecting a 20.06% reduction in his position, while insiders have sold a total of 139,842 shares worth nearly $3.9 million in the last three months.

Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI - Free Report) by 4.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,296,840 shares of the pipeline company's stock after acquiring an additional 137,060 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.15% of Kinder Morgan worth $94,572,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 0.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 204,148,872 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $5,824,367,000 after acquiring an additional 1,302,794 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 20,942,841 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $573,834,000 after acquiring an additional 1,608,499 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 37.5% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 20,281,385 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $578,628,000 after acquiring an additional 5,529,065 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 2.0% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 15,002,375 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $428,018,000 after acquiring an additional 290,653 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Kinder Morgan by 5.4% during the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 10,786,581 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $307,741,000 after acquiring an additional 553,395 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.52% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on KMI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $32.00 price target (up from $31.00) on shares of Kinder Morgan in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Cowen started coverage on Kinder Morgan in a research note on Monday, July 7th. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. Scotiabank upped their price target on Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $34.00 price target on Kinder Morgan in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $31.20.

Kinder Morgan Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE KMI traded up $0.17 during trading on Thursday, reaching $27.00. The company had a trading volume of 11,851,714 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,541,550. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.56 and a 12-month high of $31.48. The stock has a market cap of $59.98 billion, a PE ratio of 22.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.78. The business's 50-day moving average is $27.57 and its 200 day moving average is $27.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The pipeline company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.28. Kinder Morgan had a return on equity of 8.31% and a net margin of 17.06%.The firm had revenue of $4.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.26 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. Kinder Morgan has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.270-1.270 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st were given a dividend of $0.2925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $1.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. Kinder Morgan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 95.90%.

Insider Activity at Kinder Morgan

In related news, VP John W. Schlosser sold 6,166 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president directly owned 232,034 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,450,545.20. This trade represents a 2.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Sital K. Mody sold 45,549 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.96, for a total value of $1,273,550.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 139,842 shares of company stock valued at $3,896,180 over the last three months. 12.73% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.